Mary Lou McDonald
Question:13. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council. [18129/23]
View answerWednesday, 26 April 2023
Questions (13, 14)
Christopher O'Sullivan
Question:14. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach his response to the recent National Economic and Social Council report, Understanding the Irish Economy in a Time of Turbulence. [19384/23]
View answerOral answers (16 contributions)
I understand Deputy McAuliffe is asking a question on behalf of Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 14 together. The National Economic and Social Council advises me on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable economic, social and environmental development in Ireland.
NESC is currently working in six main areas. The council published a report on the Irish economy in April, Understanding the Irish Economy in a Time of Turbulence. It outlines the main forces causing turbulence for Ireland’s economy, notes the main features of our economic performance and highlights the continuing importance of three issues: fiscal sustainability and investment; actions to realise net zero; and good jobs and making work attractive.
The second area NESC is working on is climate action, just transition and agriculture. This work is exploring in practical terms how climate targets and the transition they entail for Irish agriculture can be achieved in a manner that encompasses social equity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and economic well-being. The report is being finalised and is expected to be published in June 2023.
NESC continues to engage with the shared island unit. A report on social enterprise was discussed at the March NESC meeting. This report will include an overview of the state of social enterprise in Ireland and Northern Ireland on a shared island basis. It is expected the report will be submitted to the Government in the coming weeks.
Other areas NESC is working on include well-being and inequality, good jobs, which I mentioned, and natural capital accounting.
We extend a warm welcome to Shauna and Eve from Ardee Community School. They are in transition year and doing work experience, unfortunately for them, with Deputy Ó Murchú. I am sure they will be well able for him.
The coalition parties present themselves as champions of homeownership. However, as NESC has documented, there has been a major shift towards rental and away from homeownership on their watch. Homeownership has fallen significantly and private rental has more than doubled over the past three decades. This has not happened by accident. It is the result of deliberate Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policy over the past 30 years to, in effect, transfer the responsibility of public housing delivery from the State to private landlords. Lower income working families who should have been provided with permanent social or affordable homes were left in what are, in effect, temporary tenancies, at a massive cost to the State, let it be said, and now at a cost to families' sense of security and well-being. To this day, Government policy refuses to come clean on this failed approach. Again, both parties are responsible for this.
In 2016, the number of social housing applicants living in the private rented sector on short two-year leases subsidised by housing assistance payment, HAP, nearly quadrupled. The same year, a Fine Gael Minister removed this cohort of renters from the social housing list as well as those renters in receipt of rental accommodation scheme, RAS, payments, and then claimed the social housing list had fallen. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, continues to stand over this massaging of housing data.
The NESC report into private rental in Ireland also sets out the Government parties' failure to incorporate into their national housing plans Ireland's significant and expected population increases.
I am sorry. The Deputy is over time.
Every sector in the State is calling on the Government to ramp up social and affordable housing targets-----
I am sorry. The Deputy is well over time.
-----to protect and future-proof our society. Will the Taoiseach finally listen to them?
I have to allow other Members in.
There are only two questioners on this item.
I am the Cathaoirleach.
I can read.
I will manage the House, thank you.
The NESC report deals with the issue of homeownership. It is why I am pleased this Government has brought forward so many proposals which will seek to increase the level of homeownership and provide an increase in social and cost-rental housing. These are all measures that essentially provide more housing for more people. That is what is at the heart of Housing for All.
You only have to look at the measures that have been taken forward. There are 20 public housing sites in my constituency, all of which comprise public housing on public land and all of which are being driven by approved housing bodies, AHBs, and being done by local authorities. They are part of a State affordable purchase scheme being developed by organisations such as Ó Cualann and Dublin City Council. They are cost-rental and social housing schemes. We have increased the income limits making more people eligible for those social homes. We have brought in new income limits, effectively for cost-rental or council housing, for those people earning above the income limits, albeit not a differential rent, which provides secure tenancies for the entirety of their lives.
It is continuously championed in the House that this Government relies on the private market to deliver housing, but that belies the very fact that Housing for All is based on an incredibly strong public housing programme.
Following neatly on from Deputy McAuliffe’s intervention regarding the cost rental the Government trumpets, I will highlight something important for the Taoiseach and the Government. If someone is over the social housing income thresholds, that individual is not entitled to HAP or social housing, obviously, so the Government, under pressure, developed cost rental. What are the criteria for cost rental? You have to have a net income of under €53,000 but, critically, you can only pay a rent that is 35% of your net income. A teacher contacted me to say he is currently on a salary of €47,518, which is €2,850 a month net. That means, under the criteria for cost rental, he cannot pay a rent that is more than €997 a month. He is not eligible for cost rental or social housing. The new houses that will be built by the Land Development Agency, LDA, for its first development will be cost rental. How much are the rents likely to be, according to the Government, and in response to this teacher, in this first LDA development? They will be €1,500 on average. A teacher is not eligible for social housing or cost rental because the Government has not aligned people's incomes with cost rental. It needs to get that sorted.
Will the Taoiseach join us in calling for Murphy International to reinstate the so-called Murphy 4. These are four workers with a combined 50 years' experience in the construction company Murphy International who were sacked in what was a very clear and blatant attempt at union busting. Murphy International is a massive company generating more than £1.27 billion in revenues last year. That is revenue generated by the workforce, including the four Unite members who have been dismissed. It is vital that companies are not able to get away with union busting or targeting those engaged in union activities and dismissing them. They were victimised and targeted for what was legitimate trade union activity. A major campaign is being waged by Unite, very impressively, which we are in full support of, to reinstate the Murphy 4. I ask the Taoiseach to join the call to reinstate these workers.
I will take those questions in reverse. I am not familiar with that dispute and it would not be appropriate for me to join or not join any call without knowing all the facts. There are procedures to deal with industrial relations disputes of that nature.
I agree we need to continue to review the income thresholds for both social housing and cost rental. We have already increased them for social housing and may increase them further. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is also considering doing that with cost rental. I take the point that, when it comes to thresholds, we have to take rising incomes into account, in addition to house prices as they go up and down, and adjust accordingly. That work has been done and is under way.
On homeownership, 65% to 70% of people in Ireland own their own home. We should not forget that. Approximately 30% rent, whether it is from the Government or through the private sector. As we know from the NESC report, the percentage of people who are in the private rented sector has been level at about 20% for the past ten years or so. You would have the impression from some people that it was going up and up; far from it. It has been pretty stable for the past ten years or so now.
We are making real progress when it comes to social housing. More new social housing has been provided in the past year than any year since the 1970s. There were 7,000 or 8,000 new builds last year alone. We will do better again this year. When Sinn Féin was in government in the North, with Sinn Féin housing and finance ministers, it built approximately 1,500 social homes.
Even if we adjust for population, it is a lot less than what Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party are doing together here. There can be no doubt, if we compare the North with the Republic, that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are better at building social housing than Sinn Féin and that, at least in this century, everyone is better than the Labour Party. That is what the numbers show, and people should be honest about it.