asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware that it is stated in Economic Development, 1958, page 46, that (a) there has been overbuilding by some local authorities, (b) Dublin Corpora-tion's housing programme should be completed within five or six years, (c) private housing needs have been largely met, and (d) local authority programmes have already been completed in a number of areas and are expected to be completed in all areas outside Dublin within three or four years: and if he will make a statement on the development of the existing housing problem having regard to the projected decline of expenditure on housing in Economic Development, 1958 and in the First Programme for Economic Expansion, 1958.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Housing Programmes.
12.
Before replying in detail to the question I must make it clear that the statement in Economic Development that “there has been overbuilding by some local authorities” was, in fact, a quotation from the speech on the Estimates by Deputy P. O'Donnell, the former Coalition Minister for Local Government, on 8th May, 1957.¹
Furthermore, I must complete the quotation that "the Dublin Corporation's housing problem should be completed within five or six years" by reference to the following sentence in the document which referred to the heavy emigration from the Dublin area and the significant increase thereby caused in the surrender of tenancies on municipal housing estates.
Housing cannot be divorced from economic realities. The context in which the statements were written was a decline in the output of the economy as a whole in the five years up to and including 1958, including the three years or so of Coalition Government²; an average of 9.2 per cent of insured persons unemployed in 1957 and 8.6 per cent in 1958³; and the continuing drain of emigration which reached its peak in the concluding years of the Coalition Government, and which caused this country, almost alone in Western Europe, to have a declining population4.
In so far as housing was concerned, the total number of houses built had been declining continuously, with the exception of one year, in the five years to 31st March, 1958 5. Capital expenditure from public and private sources on the building and reconstruction of houses had fallen in about the same period from £18.2 million to £14.2 million 6. Dublin Corporation which normally obtained its capital for housing by public stock issue found that in the prevailing economic circumstances it could no longer do so— the public having subscribed only £1.80 million to its last issue of £6 million stock in December, 1955. The corporation also found that the number of dwellings surrendered by their tenants going away had risen steadily from 358 in 1953-54 to 1,294 in 1957-58. This trend, in fact, continued until 1959-60 when a record 1,605 dwellings were handed back to them 7 and was not, in fact, reversed until the Government's Programme of Economic Expansion got under way.
This was the context of the comments in Economic Development. While the Deputy will, from what I have said, appreciate the background to the comments, he will also have noted the statement in the introduction to the volume that no Department was committed to the whole range of views put forward in the document.
In the Government's first Programme for Economic Expansion published shortly afterwards it is stated that "On the basis of existing policies, the capital programme of public authorities will fall in the coming years". In fact, due to the changed atmosphere induced by the publication of the Programme, the public capital expenditure on housing did not fall. In the year 1958-59 it was £7.25 million; in the following year it was £7.88 million; in 1960-61, it was £8.70 million; in 1961-62, it rose to £9.32 million; and this trend continued in each subsequent year. No local authority was at the time inhibited in any way from building. It was possible to allow each to build to meet needs. In 1964 my predecessor published a White Paper on housing, in the context of the Second Programme for Economic Expansion, indicating the Government's intention of approximately doubling housing output by 1970.
I now want to deal with the change since 1958 in the state of the economy which has enabled the country to meet this target. The economy as a whole has been growing at an average rate since 1958 of almost 4 per cent a year in real terms. 8 Unemployment and emigration have fallen and population is rising. 9 As in all countries undergoing a period of expansion, these factors have combined to raise the demand for housing, both in quantity and in quality.
Similarly, increased prosperity has enabled the Government and local authorities to raise the provision for housing in the Capital Budget, mainly for those least able to provide for themselves, almost four times over between 1958-59 and the current financial year, to a record total of £28.81 million 10 and in addition to pay subsidies of about £12 million a year, compared with about £5 million in 1956-57 from taxation to help pay rents and other housing subsidies.
Housing output in 1967-68 in fact, exceeded the lower target figure for 1970, published in 1964. Further, the growth in housing output has been sustained now, virtually without interruption, for a longer period than ever before in the history of the State. 11 While I appreciate more than most the need to press on with the housing programme until every family has a home of reasonable standard at a price they can afford, I also appreciate perhaps more than most the problems associated with maintaining a programme on which overall expenditure in the current financial year on the building and reconstruction of houses is estimated to be of the order of £52 million together with the further £12 million approximately in rent and other housing subsidies, paid from central and local taxation.
For the convenience of the Deputy, and with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I have arranged that references to the sources of the statistics used in this reply will be included in the Official Report.
Following are the references:
1 Dáil Debates, Volume 161, No. 8, column 1006.
2National Income and Expenditure, 1966, Pr. 9975, Tables 1 and B.6.
3Trend of Employment and Unemployment in 1957 and 1958, Pr. 4719 and 5179, Tables 16 and 15 respectively.
4 Relevant Census Volumes, 1951, 1956 and 1961: Annual Bulletin of Housing and Building Statistics for Europe, 1960, Table 1 (United Nations, Geneva).
5Housing—Progress and Prospects, Pr. 7981, Appendix I.
6 Information supplied by Central Statistics Office to supplement National Income and Expenditure, 1966, Table A.12.
7Housing—Progress and Prospects, Appendix I (2).
8National Income and Expenditure, 1966, Table 2.
9Census of Population, 1966.
10Capital Budget, 1968, Pr. 9984.
11Housing—Progress and Prospects
Appendix I and quarterly housing returns, issued by Department of Local Government.