Vol. 291 No. 10
asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the sharp drop in the number of local authority and private dwellings authorised or begun in the first quarter of 1976 as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1973; and if he will state the steps he proposes to take to improve the position.
7.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware that there has been a drastic fall in the number of dwellings completed in the first quarter of 1976 as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1975; and if he will state the measures he proposes to take to improve the output of the house-building industry.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together.
I am aware that the statistics for dwellings completed for the first quarter of 1976 issued by my Department recently show a drop in the level of completions as compared with the first quarter of 1975 and that the number of local authority houses commenced in the first quarter of 1976 is slightly down compared with the first quarter of 1975.
These figures are accounted for by the accelerated pace of the local authority building activity in 1975 arising from particularly favourable building conditions during the year, which resulted in a substantial proportion of dwellings being completed last year which would normally have reached completion stage in the first quarter of 1976. Deputies are aware that in fact 8,794 local authority dwellings were completed in 1975 or about 1,300 more than the estimated level for that year. Resources available for local authority housing have been increased by 20 per cent, but because of the high level of commitments the amount available for new starts was necessarily restricted. I am reviewing the level of expenditure and output on the local authority programme at present and I will make additional allocations for further new work later in the year.
As regards the non-local authority sector, while dwellings completed in the first quarter were down in comparison with 1975 and were not as high as I would like, they were still in excess of each of the last three quarters of 1975. I understand that recent indications suggest a recovery of the position in that sector.
Generally, factors which will influence house-building activity arise from the provision for housing in the public capital programme for 1976 and the availability of loan finance from the principal lending agencies, which in total is estimated at approximately £228 million. Investment of this order should ensure that house-building activity should continue at a high level in 1976.
Would the Minister agree that a drop of 27 per cent in the total number of houses completed in the first quarter of this year as compared with the same period last year is a disaster?
No, it is not.
Would the Minister agree that the repercussions in the employment aspect of the house-building industry will be more severe than they have been? We have already been given figures by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach to show how severe the position is?
About 1,300 more houses were finished last year than it was estimated would be finished because of a number of matters, particularly the fine weather and the fact that the money was available for them. This resulted in the number of houses which would normally be finished in January or February this year being completed in November or December last year. It is simple to understand that and I am amazed Deputy Faulkner, a member of a Government who could not exceed 4,100 local authority houses in any year, is complaining about 8,974 local authority houses being erected last year. As Deputy Lynch is still present I should like to point out to him, although he denies this, that on 17th December, 1975, at column 1788 of the Official Report he stated:
What has gone wrong is that there are too many local authority houses being built as against houses owned by the people which is what most Irish people aspire to.
I will stand over that any day.
Deputy Lynch said:
Local authorities are becoming, and have been for many years, the biggest landlords in the country.
Deputy Faulkner now tells us that we are not building enough local authority houses although Deputy Lynch in December maintained we were building too many. There are two voices now.
The Minister tried to misrepresent that statement so often and he does not have the good grace to withdraw his statements now.
Deputy Lynch is caught with this statement. He has probably forgotten he said it but he is caught with it.
You are a petulant, aggressive little Minister.
The Minister, when he is in serious difficulties, tries to side-track the issue. I am again asking the question: does he not regard a reduction of 27 per cent in the number of houses built in the first quarter of this year as compared with the first quarter last year—8,381 houses were built in the first quarter last year compared with 6,134 in the first quarter this year—as a disastrous situation? Over a period we have had a very severe fall in the number of people employed in the building industry and this will create a further problem.
We are having repetition.
The Chair should take the Minister to task in relation to repetition.
The Deputy is making himself look more and more ridiculous. We built more than 8,700 local authority houses last year and we built almost 26,000 as against the maximum under Fianna Fáil of 21,500, a figure referred to by Deputy Faulkner. I do not know whether the Deputy can count or not, but if there is an average of almost 26,000 a year as compared with an average of 14,600 it is hard to know what he is talking about.
Personal abuse does not disturb me at all.
It is not personal abuse.
Would the Minister agree that the withholding of State grants from 50 per cent of the people entitled to them, coupled with the low level of SDA loans, the shortening of the repayment period from 35 to 30 years and the high interest rate of 12½ per cent on these loans created chaos in the private house-building sector? Will the Minister at this stage face up to reality and do something about the matter?
The Deputy is now switching to the private house-building sector. More houses are being built than in previous years. This year, in spite of the caoining which Fianna Fáil have carried on annually from June to November when they found they were wrong, 25,000 houses will be built, just as occurred in the last three years.
Would the Minister accept that in respect of the houses built in Dublin city and county they were built on a land bank which he inherited from his predecessor?
I would agree. The land bank was there as it was all over the country.
Would he also agree that his successor will not have any land?
There is a three-year land bank because that is what the local authorities——
Paid for by the Minister's predecessors. The Minister instructed the local authorities not to buy land——
I have not. In view of the fact that Deputy Tunney made a statement which was not correct, may I be allowed to correct it? I told local authorities that where they had more than three years' estimated supply of land they should not expend money they get to build houses on buying more land. If they feel there is a special reason why they need more, they should apply to the Department and they will be given authority to do so. That is entirely different from the half truth which is being put across the House.
There is no money to pay for the land.
I am calling on Deputy Colley.
Would the Minister agree it is generally accepted that it takes approximately three years for acquisition, provision of services and building and completion of houses, and that what is happening now is that the Minister, having operated on the basis of what was available to him from the previous Government, is now operating on his own and in conjunction with his Coalition colleagues, and the result is a drastic drop in the number of houses?
That is a lot of nonsense. Deputy Colley should know, although he may not, it is true that it takes a considerable time to acquire land in certain cases. Houses which were planned in the middle of last year have been finished and people are living in them. That is what was wrong with Fianna Fáil—they spent seven years planning houses and put off building them. All the excuses in the world were given but they just could not do it. We are producing the houses.
The Minister is on his own now and it is turning out as we said it would.
In the course of his reply, the Minister referred to the amount of money available for the building of houses. Is he aware that all the money to which he referred was available at the beginning of this year, but that did not halt the declines of 29 per cent in relation to private houses and 9.2 per cent in public houses in the first quarter of this year.
I am sorry if Deputy Faulkner did not hear what I said. I said there were 1,300 local authority houses, and I do not know how many private houses completed last year that were not estimated for completion until the first, second or even third month of this year. This has shown a reduction. All the repetition in the world by Deputy Faulkner will not alter the situation—there are 8,792 people living in local authority houses, following their commencement and erection last year. By the end of this year we will be up on our target and the Deputy need not worry about this. It has happened for three years in succession and I expect it will happen in the fourth year also.
