I hope not. In reply to Deputy Callely, I would say that money has not been spent in the west on protecting empty houses. The Deputy referred to money being spent in the mideighties in Dublin to protect empty houses. We had no such luxury in the west. The only empty houses in the west were as a result of families being forced to emigrate due to the policies of this Government and to unemployment. Deputy Callely took great pleasure in quoting the first paragraph in the introduction to the Plan for Social Housing where it states that the Government are committed to pursuing housing policies with the broad objective of ensuring that every household has a dwelling suitable to its needs, located in an acceptable environment, and at a price or rent it can afford. That is a beautiful aspiration, but it is only an aspiration. People dealing with the housing crisis have painted an entirley different picture. That might be the objective of the Government and of the Plan for Social Housing but the Minister and the Government will have to be honest and say that that is only an objective without any possibility of being realised. That is a most misleading opening paragraph to the plan.
There are some laudable objectives in the Bill and perhaps there will be some benefit from some of its aspects, but it will not solve the housing crisis. Lack of capital is causing the crisis. In the meantime, the housing lists are getting longer and existing housing stock is losing value. While people are waiting for houses they are being forced to live in unsuitable accommodation. It is having a devastating effect on families. It is leading to social problems, to family breakdown and to marriage breakdown. This is too high a price to pay for the lack of finance for the housing programme.
Deputy Callely appealed to Opposition spokespeople not to refer to the capital allocation for housing. Perhaps he is embarrassed by having the figures put on record. However, the kernel of the problem revolves around the capital allocation for housing. To get this into perspective, the entire capital allocation for housing in 1991 was £43 million and in 1992 it was reduced to £41 million. That might sound like a big figure but to get it into further perspective we have to go back in history, despite Deputy Callely's appeal. Deputy Wallace challenged Deputy Callely and I will take up the challenge to illustrate what we did about housing.
In 1992 the housing capital allocation was £41 million whereas in 1984 there was a capital allocation of £206.558 million for housing. In case Deputies think I am picking a particularly good year, in 1985 the capital allocation was £197,670,000 for housing. This was when my party were part of the Government. That is the stark reality. I am a member of two local authorities in County Galway and to bring it further into perspective I will give the capital allocation for housing now compared to what it was when we were building houses and dealing with the housing waiting lists. For example, in 1983 in the Galway Borough area we received £3.5 million for the provision of houses from the then Government and we built 85 houses. Again under the then Coalition Government in 1984 we received a capital allocation of £4.32 million and built 122 houses. I am talking about Galway city alone. In 1985 we received a capital allocation of £2.6 million and built 72 houses. In 1986 our capital allocation was £2.13 million and we built 68 houses. In 1987, when the previous Fianna Fáil Government were in office, we received the miserly sum of £210,000 and we built no houses. In 1989 we received £750,000, comprised mainly of a grant solely for the provision of halting sites for itinerants in our city. That will give the House an idea of the housing situation that prevailed in Galway city previously compared with the present day.
The position is no better in the county area. For example, in Galway County Council area we received £4.5 million in 1986, and provided 219 houses — valuable housing schemes for all the rural towns of County Galway, such as Oughterard, Headford, Clifden, Athenry, Gort, Loughrea, Clarinbridge, Craughwell, to retain people in those rural areas. That was the correct policy for the then Government to pursue. I was proud to be a member of the party whose Government provided the necessary finance for the provision of houses for people on the housing waiting lists. I am not ashamed to put those facts on the record as a true and accurate account of what occurred in housing when my party were in Government compared with what is now happening.
On Monday last I attended a special meeting of Galway County Council devoted entirely to the housing position overall within the county. Having received our allocation for this year and made provision for hard stands, for the completion of a few houses in course of construction last year and for the preparation of some sites, we had a net sum of £446,000 remaining for the building of new houses within the county this year which would build approximately ten houses. Now we have in excess of 400 people on the housing waiting lists in County Galway, people in dire need and who have no possibility of building houses for themselves. I heard Deputy Rabbitte say that Dublin County Council had received an allocation for 72 houses they were unable to build, that the Minister was able to inform them, on a deputation, that they had not succeeded in spending all of that allocation. That is not the case in County Galway nor indeed in Galway city. In County Galway land has been acquired and housing schemes have been prepared for all of the towns and villages throughout the county. In excess of 120 people have been sanctioned for once-off rural dwellings to be built on their own sites, which have already been transferred to the local authority, who may or may not succeed in building those dwellings. Galway County Council have so far given the go-ahead for the building of five rural dwellings, that is five from a long list of people who have had their sites transferred to Galway County Council for the past five or six years, all legal aspects and so on being in order. Yet Galway County Council simply await the requisite finance to build houses for those people in dire need of them.
In the case of Galway city we have received an allocation of sufficient money to build approximately 22 houses this year. At present there are 22 houses being completed, the first to be built and completed by Galway Corporation over the past three years. The only other scheme built about three years ago was the valuable in-fill scheme for old people in Whitehall, in a designated area, thus bringing people back to live in the viable inner city area. It is a showpiece comprising approximately 16 one and two-bedroom apartment-type houses. I would invite anybody visiting Galway to view that scheme, to see how those people have been reintegrated into the city centre. Those were the only houses built over the past three and a half years by the previous Fianna Fáil Government and indeed under the present Coalition Government.
People I meet in the street or who come to my clinics often ask — and I feel it my duty to put this question on their behalf as their public representative: how is it that in Galway west, where there are two full Cabinet Ministers and previously a Minister of State, we are unable to obtain a better allocation of houses? Those two Ministers sit around the Cabinet table, one representing the larger party in Government, the other representing what they like to be called, the powerful party in Government. Why are they unable to obtain a better allocation of money for the provision of houses for the people of Galway city? In fact both Ministers were members of Galway Corporation. I had a hard task convincing them to resign their membership and leave it to ordinary members but one continued as a junior Minister and the other as a full Minister for a number of years. Since the last local elections they no longer serve on the local authority. I am sure they receive the same message I do at clinics about the dire need for houses in Galway city.
As bad as is the position in the county it is more acute in the city. There are now several families living in one local authority house, causing great social problems. Housing conditions in rural areas, in some cases, may be even worse, with no sanitary services and so on. But, within Galway city urban area, there are in excess of 400 families, representing approximately 1,600 or 1,700 people on the waiting lists in dire need of housing. The first houses to have been built in the past three and a half to four years are now being completed in Castle Park. Always at the weekend when I return home there are people waiting to see me to inquire what is the possibility of their receiving a house. I know in my heart and soul that 90 per cent of the people who come to me, and I assume to every other public representative, have not even a possibility of being given a house, and that they must continue to suffer on in their present circumstances.
Perhaps I could transmit, through the Minister of State, Deputy Wallace some advice to the Minister about this Bill, its provisions and housing in general. I predict people will not avail of all of the fancy, complex schemes proposed under the provisions of this Bill or in the plan for social housing and any other documents since produced. The Department have made every effort to explain the options, housing choices and so on with very good literature and documentation but I do not think they will be taken up. The reason is that they are not practical schemes and are regarded by 95 per cent of the people on waiting lists as such. These schemes will not take people off the housing waiting lists and provide them with proper accommodation. Neither will they achieve the objectives set out in the document, "A Plan for Social Housing", to ensure that every household has a dwelling suitable to its needs, located in an acceptable environment, at a price or rent it can afford.
My advice to the Minister, his officials and the Government is that they should concentrate on two schemes. First, they should reintroduce the fixed interest loan scheme which was operated by local authorities. That scheme was abolished by a previous Fianna Fáil Government. People who wanted to build or buy their own houses were not afraid to look for a loan as they knew that the interest rate would be fixed at, say, 10 per cent. These loans enabled people to build or buy their own houses, the biggest financial commitment entered into by most people. The reintroduction of this scheme would encourage people to again build or buy their own houses.
Second, a grant of £6,000 should be given to first-time buyers or builders of new houses. People who buy or build new houses are starting off in life and they do not have the necessary finance or the ability to raise money. A grant of £6,000 — I picked that figure at random — would encourage many people to build or buy their own houses. The reason there are so many people on housing waiting lists is that people who only five or six years ago would have been able to buy or build their own houses are not in a position to do so as they are not getting any help or encouragement.
Over the past ten years Galway local authorities acquired much serviced land for housing schemes. They drew up plans and submitted them to the Department. Those plans would meet with their housing requirements for the next ten or 12 years. I compliment the officials in Galway Corporation and Galway County Council for having their affairs in order and if the necessary finance was made available they would be able to start building the houses immediately.
I wish to refer to a housing scheme built at Castlepark in Galway city in the mid-eighties. Castlepark is on top of the hill at the back of the Corrib Great Southern Hotel. It would do anyone good to look at this housing scheme and I invite the Minister to visit it.
