Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Oct 1999

Vol. 508 No. 3

Private Members' Business. - Local Authority Housing: Motion.

Mr. Hayes:

I move:

That Dáil Éireann notes the fact that waiting lists for local authority housing have increased by over 50 per cent in two years, that many such applications have been outstanding for lengthy periods, deplores the hardship evidenced by these facts and calls on the Government to:

–provide the resources required to enable local authorities to build 10,000 houses for rent or for tenant purchase each year for the next four years; and

–complete, as a matter of urgency, an audit of all lands in possession of the State with a view to increasing the supply of land to local authorities for house building.

With the agreement of the House, I would like to share my time with Deputies Dukes, Clune and Ulick Burke.

An Ceann Comhairle:

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Hayes:

One of the most important ways in which the State can make a difference to the quality of people's lives can be tested in the number and quality of homes which are currently being provided to people on low incomes. Historically, the State has a proud record in its ability to provide low cost housing to thousands of citizens. Since local authorities were first established, in excess of 330,000 dwellings have been built, over 90 per cent of which were later sold off to tenant purchasers.

While the rental market in Ireland, both in the private and public sectors, is relatively smaller than in other European Union countries, we have, nonetheless, in difficult financial times provided various housing options to meet the needs of a large variety of income groups. Shelter and housing were regarded by the majority of citizens as fundamental rights within our society, but this is no longer the case. Ask any Member of this House to state the issue which has become the most pressing issue in recent times and they would all agree that the most problematic issue that confronts politicians at local and national level is the housing crisis. We are all demoralised at seeing the continuous stream of constituents who find themselves, frequently with a small family, waiting to be offered a house from a local authority. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that the problem of domestic overcrowding is worse today than it was in the Ireland of the 1950s. None of us should underestimate the long-term damage that is being caused to families who frequently share a three bedroom house with an extended family of sometimes seven or eight adults. The obvious tension this produces cannot be underestimated.

Over the past two years the tradition of investing resources in the provision of social housing has been completely overturned by the actions of the Government. While everyday we read the latest report on the housing crisis, it seems that very little attention is given to the untold misery of people who are waiting for local authorities to provide them with a home. That misery can best be seen in the dramatic escalation in the number of applicants looking for housing from their respective local authority. Because the housing market is out of control in excess of 100,000 men, women and children are paralysed on a waiting list, with little chance of being housed. If commentators want to see the real testimony of the Government's failure, it definitely can be seen in the massive increase in the number of people who require social housing.

The motion in the name of the Fine Gael Party clearly signals that we are not building the requisite number of local authority houses to meet the huge demand that exists. Yesterday we heard from the Department of Finance that the current budget surplus this year is likely to exceed £1.8 billion, excluding the Government's privatisation programme plans. Is it not, therefore, a disgrace that in this year when so much has been created in our economy about 5,000 new homes will be built to cater for the 45,000 applicants in need of housing. Fine Gael believes that we have the resources to massively expand the national house building programme and that such a programme should now be prioritised by the Government.

Our motion also mandates the Government to undertake an audit of all land in the ownership of the State for the purposes of making more land available for social housing projects. Virtually no work has taken place in this area at interdepartmental level, and that was clearly expressed to me today during Question Time. As a result, a large number of local authorities have a deficient land bank and are looking for housing land to build various housing schemes. They are unable to do that at the moment because the land is not available.

Today the Minister of State with responsibility for housing revealed the best kept secret in his Department, namely, that more than 45,000 applicants are in need of social housing. The Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, has been negligent in not allowing an emergency assessment, as Fine Gael proposed last year, to help his negotiations with the Minister for Finance. Last year Fine Gael proposed that an emergency assessment should be done in this area. By delaying publication of the national housing assessment by six months, the Minister of State has helped to delay the inevitable expenditure of additional moneys for the national house building programme. It is most interesting to learn that the figures announced by the Minister of State today are virtually identical to those which Fine Gael published last year when it undertook an assessment on its own behalf, and it was the only political party to do so. The figures it produced last year are identical to the figures produced by the Minister of State today, and he refused on that occasion to concede to an emergency assessment, which he has the power to do under the 1990 Housing Act. Twelve months ago I asked him to do that but he refused and he is negligent in his position as Minister of State with responsibility for housing.

The extent of the problem is well known but an emergency assessment last year would have helped the Minister in negotiating a much larger package of funding from the Department of Finance. Why did it take over six months to have the official national housing assessment published? The inertia and paralysis shown by the Minister with responsibility for housing on this issue has ensured that an emergency response from Government to the problem was long-fingered. I ask the Government to consider the introduction of a yearly housing assessment which could, in conjunction with every local housing authority, monitor current trends and demands. It is ridiculous, given the extent of the housing crisis, that we must wait for three yearly intervals before obtaining the necessary data to provoke any Government to reply with additional resources.

After two years in office, the Government has finally woken up to the scale of the national housing list, so much so that the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, decided to tell his party's conference earlier this year that his Department would provide an additional 22,000 new housing starts over the next four years. Last May he informed me in a written reply that local authorities had been requested to set in train the necessary preparatory work in identifying schemes for inclusion in a four year housing programme. On 1 June I was informed that the multi-annual local housing building programme that the Minister announced had a price tag of £2 billion and that the precise funding requirement had still to be determined by the Department of Finance. Will the Minister inform us of his progress to date in instructing local authorities to present his Department with their building programme and in finalising the exact cost of such a programme over the next four years with his colleague, the Minister for Finance? It is time to move this debate on from the pious promises and cheap public relations stunts which are a feature of the Government's response to the housing crisis.

Despite the Bacon reports and a series of high profile announcements, the Government's housing policy is falling apart at the seams. The Taoiseach should directly intervene to deliver one of the most straightforward obligations a State can offer – the obligation to provide shelter for its people. As the number of homeless persons has doubled over the past three years and the number of people looking for council houses has also increased, there is a real sense that a generation of people will never obtain security of tenure. It is obvious that the problems of house price inflation is having a hugely detrimental effect on the ability of young people to buy a home. Throughout this debate, we have spent little time dealing with the problems associated with our national housing list which, as I said, has rapidly increased in recent times. The Government is spending less on the provision of social housing than the Government which Fine Gael led only three years ago. Indeed, a dwindling output of houses in the social sector has been a persistent policy and feature of Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Governments. In addition, as has happened recently, there has been a massive increase in the numbers seeking social housing. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Minister of State with responsibility for housing is led by the market, incessantly believes in the notion of supply and does not address the issue of affordability. Given this, is it surprising that more than 100,000 men, women and children are seeking local authority houses?

In view of the fact that available resources are considerably greater in 1999 than was the case in 1995, 1996 or even 1997, I cannot understand why the Government is spending just 6.9 per cent of its total capital expenditure on the provision of public housing. I have said repeatedly over the summer that this is the lowest investment in the capital programme announced by any Government in recent times. The Government, and especially the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, stands indicted for this. The lowest level of expenditure in this area by a Fine Gael led Government amounted to 8 per cent of total capital expenditure while over 9 per cent was reached in 1995. Times are much better now and there is no excuse for directing a smaller percentage of capital expenditure towards providing public housing for people on council housing lists. It is a public disgrace that real expenditure has reduced at a time when the need for social housing has increased so dramatically.

The amount of public expenditure on the provision of social housing is one thing, but I was amazed to discover recently that fewer local auth ority homes were purchased or built in 1998 than was the case in any of the three previous years. Last year the State purchased or built only 3,504 houses in the local authority sector despite the fact that a massive 45,000 applicants are now on the housing list. How can the Government claim to be spending more money on the public housing programme when there are 3 per cent fewer starts and acquisitions than was the case in the previous year?

The Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, has a tendency to attempt to shift the blame for the failure to provide more housing to the local authority sector, especially to local authority housing departments. If he has criticisms of individual housing authorities who are not pulling their weight, he should name them in public. Moreover, if he feels they are unable to deliver their building programme he should take steps to ask another body to do the job.

There is a need to look at areas of the country where there is an especially high demand for social housing provision. Taking the example of Dublin, with four housing authorities, is it possible to co-ordinate and streamline their ability to increase housing output and, by extension, to reduce unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks? If we are not getting the required volume of social housing output from our local authorities we may have to look at another form of response at local level. While we all supported the break-up of the old Dublin County Council into three new dynamic areas which would deliver local services to the public in a much more coherent way, would it not be better, given the housing needs in the city and county, to have one housing authority for the entire region to deal with specific problems? Undoubtedly, bureaucratic problems stand in the way of producing additional housing stock. I look forward to the views of the Minister of State on this proposal.

In recent years, the output from the voluntary housing sector has plummeted. I am aware of the Minister of State's decision to increase the limits of assistance available under the capital assistance scheme, but the initiative by itself cannot allow the voluntary housing sector to increase its output unless a sufficient supply of land is provided. Last year saw the lowest output ever – 500 houses – from this very small sector, yet at a time when there were much fewer resources available it produced 1,000 houses annually. We should support this sector. The Minister of State's initiative on the capital assistance programme will do nothing unless land is made available by local authorities to voluntary associations.

While we hear many congratulatory statements on behalf of the Government concerning the housing output in the private sector, the percentage of completions for social housing units continues to fall. It is inevitable that the gap between the public and private housing schemes will continue to grow unless new funding is introduced. It is the intention of my party, in the utilisation of our time in this debate tonight and tomorrow night, to put this issue centre stage and to demand an additional 40,000 social housing units for the next four years, at the rate of 10,000 starts each year.

If the Government cannot co-ordinate a simple requirement to build additional housing for the people who are stuck on a local authority housing list it should not be in office. Having spent two years blaming the previous Administration, the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, must begin to take responsibility for this area of policy.

Mr. Dukes:

In the 18 years since I was first elected to this House I have seen the wheel come full circle on local authority housing. In 1981 and for a couple of years after it was one of the most pressing preoccupations of any Member of this House or of a local authority. Indeed, I recall an occasion when, following the allocation of some 40 houses in a part of my constituency, there was a demonstration in the streets by people who were not among those to whom they were allocated. The situation was very difficult.

In the years between 1982 and 1987 we managed, at a time of great difficulty, to find the resources to gradually expand the local authority house building programme. Progress was maintained for some years afterwards and I was delighted to see this. We got to the point – most Members of the House will know what I am talking about – where, from being a major preoccupation in a Deputy's weekly life in dealing with constituents, housing had gone down the list. That was the case in the early part of the 1990s. However, for the past two years, it has gone up the list, at an accelerating rate, of the preoccupations of all our constituents. There has been increasing pressure on local authorities and local authority waiting lists increase inexorably month after month, quarter after quarter.

It has taken months of argument and a Fine Gael Private Members' motion to awaken the Government from its apparent indifference to the misery represented by the current level of waiting lists for local authority housing. Until today the Government, especially the Minister of State, has indulged in endless prolix, voluble self-congratulation about its own inadequate action. I am sorry it has taken that long because it has meant a great deal of suffering for a great many people.

However, today, after months of denial and smug self-congratulation, the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, finally admitted to the extent of the waiting list problem. Today he suddenly announced new local authority house construction targets for the next four years. To hear on 5 October that there is a new target for local authority housing completions for this year leaves me less than convinced. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever but that when we come back here after the Christmas recess, if indeed this Dáil reassembles after the Christmas recess, and we get the final figures for the year, the local authority housing starts for 1999 will not match up to the figure the Minister announced today on Question Time.

Today the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, finally admitted that almost 40,000 applicants are judged to be in need of housing by local authorities and that, in addition, a further 6,600 applicants are judged to be in need of rent supplementation in order to assist them in affording private rented accommodation. There are almost 40,000 applications on the waiting list for housing by local authorities. This means that in the region of 100,000 people are seeking accommodation by local authorities and, in the words of the Minister of State, are judged to be in need of housing by local authorities. These are not frivolous applications, they are not people who can make other provision for themselves, they are people who are judged to be in need of housing by local authorities – perhaps 100,000 people. Among these applicants are people in all circumstances, traditional families, lone parents, people in other relationships and so on. These people have one thing in common, they are judged to be in need of housing by a local authority. This means they are living in fairly bad, very bad or utterly inadequate conditions and many of them are homeless under the statutory definitions that exist. Many of these applicants are living in over-crowded conditions, perhaps with the parents of one of the applicant couple or with the parents of a lone parent and other members of that person's family. I do not know whether the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, ever considers this or ever talks to these people, but listening to applicants in that situation describe the circumstances of their daily lives indicates that this is very often a picture of misery.

I am not very impressed by the way in which the Minister of State is dealing with these issues. I received an answer from him today on another issue which showed absolutely no sympathy for the plight of people on low incomes. He would do well to reflect on the position of the people I have described in light of the experience of the Tánaiste during the last general election when she proposed, in an incredibly heartless way, to increase and perpetuate over-crowding in housing by issuing one of her famous soundbites that promptly turned around and bit her. The Minister of State is showing the same lack of understanding and concern. The numbers of people on local authority waiting lists have increased in the past two years more than anyone would have expected because there are large numbers of people on these waiting lists who up to three years ago would have been able to afford to buy their own house. However, the fact that the prices of starter homes have gone so far out of reach of the average person means that more and more people who would have previously afforded their own homes are now on local authority housing waiting lists.

It gives me a shudder down my spine to hear the Minister of State say today that things are improving, that the rate of increase in house prices is going down when what he is actually saying is that in the most recent period for which he has data, house prices increased by only 16 per cent whereas in the previous comparable period they had increased by 25 per cent. This means that over the total of these two periods there has been an increase of more than 40 per cent in house prices. The Minister of State comes in here, congratulates himself and expects us to participate in the cheers and jubilations when he says the rate of increase in house prices is decreasing. House prices are still increasing inexorably and going further and further beyond the reach of the average couple, putting more and more people on local authority housing waiting lists. It has taken two years of argument to get the Minister of State to accept what this means in practical terms.

The figures issued by the Minister of State today show that 6,600 applicants are judged to be in need of rent supplementation. This indicates that as a result of the shortage of local authority accommodation 16,000 people are forced to pay rents they cannot afford for private rented accommodation, much of which is in appallingly bad condition. Everyone in this House knows what I am talking about when I say that people are receiving rent supplements from the health boards to live in private rented accommodation that ought to be condemned and in which people should not be asked to live. I will not draw the pictures because everyone here knows what I am talking about – they meet these cases every week. There are approximately 16,000 people in those circumstances. In some cases these people are paying substantial amounts of rent and health boards are paying out substantial amounts of public money to subsidise and assist them because there is nowhere else for them to go. These people have been on a local authority waiting list for God knows how long. They cannot stay where they are, they are forced out into the private rented sector, they get into very bad accommodation for which they pay substantial rents and must be supplemented by the health boards.

The Minister of State's acceptance of the figures is far too late. I wish I could feel confident that in accepting the figures today he was saying that he understands what lies behind them, the hardship, misery and difficulty for family relationships. If he did, he would take the opportunity to do more than he has proposed. I do not believe he will do what he proposes for this year and I have not much confidence that what he proposes for next year will be done. Some 130,000 people are hoping that he means what he says and if he lets them down, he will be judged very harshly.

Ms Clune:

At a time of great economic gain and tax receipts of £1 billion ahead of targets, we have created a nation of haves and have nots in terms of a place to live or a roof over the heads of the citizens of this State. The number of have nots has grown considerably. Since assuming office the Government has presided over a local authority housing list which has grown by over 50 per cent. Many of these people never dreamt they would find themselves in this position, a position where they are dependent on the State to provide them and their families with somewhere to live. The lack of affordable housing has created a new type of local authority applicant, people on average incomes who cannot possibly afford to buy a house near their place of work. The State has not recognised the real hardship many of these families face. The State is slow in the business of building and it builds as it pleases. It chose to purchase fewer local authority houses in 1998 than in any of the previous years. This does not make sense. Why has the Government been so slow to react to the growing numbers who cannot afford to buy their own homes?

This problem has existed for some time and there has been much rhetoric about the increased funding available for local authority housing. However, the reality is that house prices and building prices have increased. Fewer local authority houses are being built this year than in previous years. House prices have risen and continue to do so. They are at such levels that they now prohibit low to middle income earners from purchasing their own homes. There is a nationwide shortage of suitable building sites for affordable housing. I strongly support the motion which calls on the Government to immediately complete an audit of all State property with a view to increasing the supply of land for local authority housing.

How else can the Government initiate the development of 45,000 new homes, which is the number required to address the needs of citizens, unless we know the extent of the land available to build upon? The Minister of State must be seen to drive this important element of the State's house building programme and carry out this vital assessment. It is not just a matter for local authorities; it is also a matter for the Minister of State himself. The shortage of suitable land in many local authority areas – particularly the large urban areas of Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick – is impacting severely on the ability of local authorities to match their increasing housing needs. Therefore, they will have to become more innovative and look outside their own boundaries in accessing suitable sites to meet developing housing needs.

Over many years, tenant purchasing schemes have depleted local authority housing stock and the increasing demand is not being addressed in a satisfactory fashion. It is not being addressed by a suitable building programme nor by the fact that there has been a decrease in local authority acquisitions in recent years. So, at a time when we have increased demand for social housing, the sad reality is that the rate of production is not only failing to match demand but is also decreasing.

The introduction of shared-ownership schemes is also showing a downward trend. Because of the increasing cost of housing many people still can not afford to buy a house even when assisted to do so. The rate of take up of local authority loans is also falling and I am not surprised because, with a limit of £50,000, there are not many houses available at that price around the country. In 1993, for instance, a local authority mortgage covered approximately 65 per cent of the average house price, today it amounts to 45 per cent or less. The local authority mortgage scheme – one of the main planks which enabled those on middle or low incomes to purchase their own homes – is slowly fading out and is no longer available to such people. People who cannot buy their own homes are faced with the inevitable local authority waiting list. They must approach the local housing officer as well as visiting politicians' clinics to ask them to make representations on their behalf. They never know where they stand nor when, or if, they will be housed.

Deputy Dukes mentioned his 18 years in politics. I was elected to the House two years ago. Following my election I visited the local city manager and his officials to introduce myself. One of the first things the city manager said was that if I wanted to make representations his staff would be happy to deal with me. However, on the issue of housing they would not be able to give any response whatsoever because they simply could not cope with the applications from those seeking accommodation and with representations from politicians. That was my introduction to the housing crisis and at every weekly clinic I have held since, people attend who are faced with the problem of not having a house and not knowing when they will be housed. It is a difficult situation because one has no answer for them. One can contact the corporation or local county council but in one's heart and soul one knows they will not be housed this year or next. Based on the figures the Minister of State has released today, such housing will certainly not be available in the foreseeable future either. That is the sad reality.

Housing is one of the main social problems and the lack of affordable housing is really affecting people. At a time of economic boom when money is available to the Government which was not predicted last year, why are so many citizens deprived of housing units? I support the motion and I hope we will see investment and innovative measures from the Government to try to address the serious housing problem facing many people.

Mr. U. Burke:

No other problem demands so much time of public representatives, whether as local authority members or Members of the Oireachtas, as housing. This is the Minister of State's second coming in the housing area. He was previously Minister for the Environment and monuments still remain in some places to his endeavours at that time. In the Minister of State's own constituency, houses without chimneys were built in Rahoon. That is what he is best known for during that period. Those houses were later demolished and have been replaced by proper housing. The Minister of State should take the initiative now.

Mr. Molloy:

The Deputy should get his facts right before talking about my constituency.

Mr. U. Burke:

I ask the Minister of State to take the initiative to provide housing of a quality and variety in which people can live. Over the years the Department of the Environment provided housing that was dull and unimaginative. In many cases small ghettos were created which people quickly wanted to abandon. Hence we now have housing stock in local authority estates that are partially abandoned and very often windows and doors are blocked up. The answer lies in avoiding such examples. The Minister of State needs to radicalise housing but I am afraid that we have seen nothing from his two years in office. We have not seen any adequate housing design. Over the next couple of years, 40,000 housing units will have to be provided, but when will the Minister of State make a start? The Minister of State should co-ordinate the planning and housing endeavours within his own Department.

In rural County Galway we see examples where people are not allowed to build affordable housing. Planners will say that it is ribbon development. Unless second family dwellings are involved, people cannot build a house in the rural area in which they wish to live. We could build affordable housing in such areas. Sites will become available with the decline in agriculture because many farmers will sell part of their holdings to supplement their income and tide them over a bleak period. Why can the Minister of State not respond by asking planners to release housing land banks in certain areas?

Today we have seen a consultants' report for Galway city and county which said housing will be brought into Tuam as the focus point outside Galway city. Is that the direction in which we are going? Will we denude rural Ireland by moving, in County Galway's case, into Tuam where something like 4,000 additional houses are planned over the next five years?

We will never solve the problem in that way but we will denude rural areas. If the Minister of State is to be remembered for anything, it is time he opened the opportunities for rural Ireland to become an area where we can provide housing at affordable prices for the future.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy):

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:

"Dáil Éireann notes the increase in the level of local authority housing needs and welcomes:

–the Government's commitment to an expanded housing programme by local auth orities and the voluntary housing sector and the significantly increased financial resources provided by the Government for these programmes in 1999:

–the action being taken by the Government to increase and accelerate the supply of land for housing including social and affordable housing;

and commends the introduction by the Government of the first ever multiannual programme for the provision of local authority housing to run for the coming four years and to deliver an additional 22,000 local authority dwellings.".

I welcome the opportunity to set out the Government's social housing strategy and to ask the House to support the measures being taken by the Government in this vitally important area.

It is well said that those who don't learn from mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them. I wonder how much thought the proponents of this motion have given to the implications of their demands for 10,000 new houses to be built each year by local authorities for the next four years. I know that I will be putting local authorities to the pin of their collar to deliver 22,000 new local authority rented dwellings over the next four years, together with a greatly expanded voluntary housing programme, as well as securing greatly increased output under the affordable housing scheme and the range of other social and affordable housing measures already in train.

Leaving aside, however, the practical constraints, the effect of the suggested crash programme of local authority house building would inevitably see a return to the provision of large, soulless, peripheral local authority housing estates remote from good public transport, amenities or jobs. This is not a policy which the Government will countenance and I will return to these aspects later. However, first, I want to speak about the Government's overall housing policy.

The Government has a credible and coherent housing strategy which is designed to increase housing supply, to improve access to housing for lower income groups and to improve the housing conditions of local authority tenants and other key groups such as the elderly, homeless persons and the disabled. In its action programme, the Government set out its key housing priorities, including a continuing house construction programme by local authorities and voluntary groups, refurbishment of existing inadequate housing, improvement and extension of social housing schemes, maximum co-ordination of housing policy under my Department and local authorities developing serviced sites to accelerate the supply of new houses to meet the rising demands of those who need housing. Since the Government took office we have made remarkable progress, particularly in tackling escalating house prices, increasing housing output and in widening and strengthening social housing measures.

I have published today the results of the assessments of housing needs undertaken by local authorities at the end of March last. These indicate that a total of 39,176 households were in need of local authority housing compared with 27,427 in March 1996. In addition, the housing needs of a further 6,400 households were considered by local authorities as being most suitably met by other housing options, including voluntary housing, rent supplementation and other social housing schemes, compared to a total of 6,047 households similarly assessed in 1996.

Generally speaking, the needs in county council and county borough areas were found to have increased by about 50 per cent on average while the level of increase in urban district council areas averaged 23 per cent. However, 20 authorities, and these were mostly urban district councils, recorded a reduction in the numbers on their waiting lists. The spatial variation of the changing need profile throughout the country reveals particularly large increases in the Dublin area, Limerick County Council, Mayo, Galway and Waterford.

The Government fully recognises that there is an increased need for local authority housing as evidenced by the results of the assessments. Because of the importance of these assessments, my Department has devoted considerable effort to collating the results from all local authorities to bring together the overall picture of total local authority housing needs and I was pleased to be in a position to release the overall findings earlier today. This is considerably earlier than was the case with the 1996 assessment where results were not published until the middle of December.

The 1999 assessment also identifies, separately, households consisting of one adult and one or more children. This category accounts for about 17,000 households, or 43 per cent of the entire net need and approximately 11,000 of these households consist of one adult and one child. The assessment identifies 622 traveller households in need of permanent accommodation in residential caravan parks and halting sites. This is in addition to the 1,406 traveller households assessed as seeking local authority housing. A more comprehensive survey of homelessness utilising the broader definition of homeless persons, which includes those who have no accommodation as well as those in hostels and in health board accommodation, was undertaken on this occasion and the results indicate that on this basis there are some 5,200 homeless persons. The number in 1996 was 2,500 but this is not directly comparable with the recent findings.

I am concerned about the large waiting lists that now exist in many local authority areas and I accept there is a real need for an expanded local authority housing programme. However, the programme which I have set out is appropriate to needs and is, above all, achievable without serious adverse consequences for the tenants. Before I move on from the matter of housing needs assessments I believe it is useful to go behind these assessments a little further to obtain a better understanding of how long people are on waiting lists and how long people spend on the waiting lists before they are housed by local authorities.

In general, the recent assessments, indicate that over 60 per cent of households are less than two years on waiting lists and this proportion is just slightly up on the position in 1996. It is, of course, accepted that there are now more households on waiting lists. In a recent sample survey of lettings of houses by five different local authorities carried out by my Department it was found that 56 per cent of the households that were housed in the first six months of this year were less than one year on the waiting lists, 22 per cent were between one and two years, 10 per cent were between two and three years and only 7 per cent of those housed during the period were more than four years on the lists. This gives one a slightly different perspective on waiting lists and how long it takes for people to secure housing from their local authority. Local authorities will make over 7,000 new lettings this year. This means that those in the greatest need of housing have a very good prospect of receiving local authority housing within a reasonable period.

Demand has increased dramatically in all housing sectors, exceeding all earlier predictions. Availability of land for housing is critical to increasing the supply of housing, which is the cornerstone of the Government's strategy to meeting demand. It is essential to bring forward serviced land for housing more quickly, to deal effectively with infrastructural constraints or delays to development and to maximise the potential of available land. This applies as much to land for local authority housing as it does to land for private housing.

We are addressing the land issue in a number of ways. One of these is to identify any land in State ownership that may be surplus to requirements and see if it can be made available quickly to local authorities for the provision of social and affordable housing. However, the extent to which use of State lands can contribute to meeting total social and affordable housing needs must be kept in perspective. While it does not offer the prospect of a quick fix to the issue of land supply, I am anxious to ensure that whatever potential exists in this area is fully exploited.

Local authorities in areas where pressure on land supply is greatest have a key role, in the first instance, in identifying sites currently owned by public bodies which would have potential for development of social or affordable housing. Where such land is identified, my Department will do everything possible to facilitate the securing of such lands for housing purposes through liaison with the relevant Government Departments. We are, indeed, taking a proactive role in this regard. For example, my Department has been in contact with the Department of Defence regarding the potential use of sites in former Army barracks. We have met a very positive response from the Department of Defence and a number of promising sites have been identified. There are certain issues to be resolved in relation to some of these so it would not be appropriate for me to go into further detail at this stage. However, I am optimistic that they will yield results.

One point I must make clear is that there is no question of expecting the bodies concerned to give up lands at bargain basement rates. They must operate on the basis of getting good value for any assets they dispose of and any lands provided will have to be purchased at mutually acceptable prices. The key issue is to ensure that local authorities get the opportunity to secure suitable sites on acceptable terms.

The Churches, as holders of quite significant amounts of serviced land in built up areas, can also make a worthwhile contribution to increasing housing supply in areas where need is most acute and where housing can be developed relatively quickly. I want to acknowledge generously that over the years the Churches and religious orders have made many sites available cheaply or free of charge for the provision of sheltered and other forms of housing for the socially disadvantaged. It is because of their record in doing so that I feel confident that we will have a very co-operative response from the Churches to the current need for social and affordable housing which we are now experiencing. I recognise that the Churches have responsibilities to observe in making decisions about their property assets. Hence, the public authorities realise that they will have to pay a fair price for any Church lands or property made available for social and affordable housing.

Of course, the use of State or institutional land is just one of the avenues being pursued in the drive to maximise and accelerate the availability of land for housing. Within a few months of coming into office the Government launched the serviced land initiative. Funding for this initiative was substantially augmented last year to a total of £39 million Exchequer funding. This, in conjunction with local development levies, will mean a total investment of some £100 million. The serviced land initiative will yield around 100,000 additional housing sites by the end of 2000. This will have a major impact in increasing the supply of land useable for housing, whether local authority, social or private. I expect that 99 schemes will commence construction in 1999, producing over 60,000 serviced sites. An important point is that, in general, once these schemes are in progress, construction work on houses can start and run in parallel with land servicing. Consequently, the serviced land initiative will have an impact in terms of housing output in the short term as well as in the more medium term.

My Department took a further important initiative earlier this year to address possible infrastructural constraints on housing development by requesting local authorities to permit, where appropriate and subject to necessary environmental safeguards, the use of temporary water treatment facilities. This provides an effective and acceptable means of allowing development to proceed in any instance where housing would otherwise be delayed while awaiting the completion of major water and sewerage infrastructures.

The housing supply provisions in the recently published Planning and Development Bill, 1999, will play a major role in underpinning the future supply of social and affordable housing. The Bill provides for the formulation of comprehensive local authority housing strategies. On the basis of these strategies, the development plans must indicate that up to 20 per cent of land zoned for housing is to be made available for social or affordable housing at its existing use value. These proposals are designed to meet a clearly identified concern of public policy and the common good. The measures are well targeted and clearly defined and will have regard to the prevailing and anticipated housing situation in any area. The impact of the measures is proportionate to the issue being addressed and they have been prepared having regard to the constitutional principles of fairness, equality and proportionality.

The inclusion for the first time of housing in the forthcoming National Development Plan reflects the Government's commitment to addressing housing needs. Provision will be made for the increased level of the local authority housing programme as well as greatly increased social and affordable housing in the lifetime of the plan. Provision of housing-related infrastructural investment is also an important element both to alleviate existing bottlenecks on housing development and to underpin provision for housing needs in the medium and long term through integrated infrastructural investment.

Increased availability of land for housing needs is to be accompanied by optimal use of that scarce resource. Increased residential density is crucial in this regard in promoting sustainable development, helping to prevent further urban sprawl and promoting greater efficiency in public transport and other public services. Local authorities and An Bord Pleanála were asked to implement the Planning Guidelines on Housing Densities when these were issued in draft form earlier this year. They will now be required under law to have regard to the definitive guidelines which were published last week following a process of public consultation.

Increased residential densities have an important role to play in supporting the provision of affordable housing. The local authority affordable housing scheme, which I launched last March, is an important new initiative to help bridge the affordability gap for aspiring house purchasers. It is directly linked to the delivery of additional new houses by local authorities and, therefore, will not adversely affect house prices. A substantial number of these houses are already in the pipeline and some will be ready later this year. I expect that some 1,400 homes will be provided under the scheme by the end of the year 2000.

Capital investment in the local authority housing programme is at its highest ever level. This allocation was significantly increased by the Government well in advance of the needs assessment being undertaken. The £230 million being provided for the local authority housing programme this year represents an increase of almost £35 million on the 1998 provision. The capital provision for this programme is now four times greater than that provided in 1993 and I have secured increases of 18 per cent in each of the past two years. The high level of funding will enable local authorities to meet commitments in their ongoing programmes and to fund the enhanced programme of 4,500 new starts in 1999, the highest number in 13 years. The substantially increased capital provision for this year is a clear indication of the Government's commitment to local authority housing as the mainstay of the overall response to social housing needs. Lest anyone be in doubt that £230 million is the extent of the Government's investment in housing, the total investment by Government in all the housing programmes is £520 million this year alone.

The Government has advanced further in this regard and I have introduced a new multi-annual local authority housing programme of 22,000 houses over the next four years. This is clearly an ambitious programme but one which is designed to deliver quality housing in a good environment suited to the needs of tenants.

At my request local authorities have already set in train the necessary forward planning process and have started making preparations for their multi-annual programmes. This includes the assembly of necessary land banks to meet their needs over the coming years. It is open to local authorities to acquire lands by way of compulsory purchase order if this is what is required to secure lands. My Department has also held a series of regional workshops recently with key personnel in local authorities to emphasise the need to accelerate local authority housing output over the next four years.

What all this means is that I will, this month, allocate starts for the next four years and it will then be a matter for each authority to proceed with their four year programme which will be agreed with the Department. The funding profile agreed with the Department will secure the necessary financial commitment for each authority's programme. I am confident the enhanced multi-annual local authority housing programme, together with output from the complementary social and affordable housing measures, including voluntary housing, along with vacancies occurring in existing houses, will provide accommodation for over 50,000 households during the coming four years.

The local authority housing programme also plays an important part in the regeneration of urban areas. The most prominent example is Ballymun where the development of new housing is central to the social and economic regeneration of the area as a whole. The funding which has been provided this year to get the redevelopment under way is concrete evidence of the Government's commitment to improve the housing and economic prospects of an area in Dublin that has regrettably been neglected over the years. The previous Government provided no funding whatever for this major redevelopment. It may have approved the proposal in principle but it did not provide funding. The Government is committed to providing £350 million for the regeneration of Ballymun over the coming years. This clearly marks out our commitment to a project that is unique in terms of Irish social housing and in terms of the comprehensive scale and level of funding. The lessons of the past have showed that a planned and integrated development is essential to the success of a regeneration project and I look forward to advancing the comprehensive redevelopment of Ballymun.

We are also determined to maintain maximum progress under the remedial works programme throughout the country which continues to provide practical assistance to local authorities to improve the standards of inadequate housing and assist in the rehabilitation of run down estates.

Although local authorities have traditionally been the dominant force in social housing provision, the voluntary housing sector has made an important contribution to alleviate social housing need. However, the increased cost of construction experienced in recent years put output under the voluntary housing capital assistance scheme at serious risk. On becoming Minister, I was determined to ensure increased social housing provision and my commitment to this scheme has been demonstrated in practice through increasing the limits of assistance twice within a one year period. Since the inception of the scheme these represented the most significant increase – up to 67 per cent – in the level of funding. These increases have arrested the decline in voluntary housing output and I am glad to note at this stage it appears likely that voluntary housing output in 1999 will be around 50 per cent higher than output last year.

Mr. Hayes:

Nine hundred.

Mr. Molloy:

I recognise that more financial supports for the development of the voluntary housing sector are necessary. I have received detailed proposals from the Irish Council for Social Housing and the National Association of Building Co-operatives for the planned expansion of the voluntary housing sector. This sector has the capacity, with proper support, to add significantly to its current contribution to meet social housing needs, particularly special housing needs which the sector has catered for so admirably. My efforts will be directed towards facilitating the voluntary housing sector in increasing its output over the coming years. I have also reminded local authorities to renew their efforts to respond to housing needs in their own areas by developing to the full the potential of the range of social and voluntary housing measures now available to them to supplement their local authority housing programmes. I am confident local authorities will respond positively.

The Government has also taken the initiative of establishing a cross-Department team on homelessness with the remit of preparing an integrated response to the issues which affect homeless people, including accommodation, health, education and employment. Submissions from a cross-section of the statutory and voluntary agencies involved, including local authorities and health boards, have been received and I expect that the cross-Department team will finalise its report in the near future.

Homelessness is not just about a lack of accommodation. We must provide the necessary support services to enable homeless people to get out of the cycle of homelessness. Increasingly, voluntary bodies are providing settlement services, with funding provided by the Government, to assist homeless people to move into and adjust to an independent lifestyle. This is an objective I strongly support and I would point out that in this year's budget we provided for the very first ‘foyer' for homeless persons. Foyers are specially designed to provide accommodation and training opportunities for young homeless persons and are an important element in the comprehensive response to homelessness.

The local authority housing programme I am promoting is fundamentally different in character from that of previous decades. A key policy consideration is to provide housing in a manner which does not contribute to or reinforce social segregation. Local authorities are providing housing in small, well-designed schemes, often on infill sites and without recourse, as in the past, to building large estates on greenfield sites at the edges of our cities and towns. This approach is crucial in redeveloping rundown areas of our towns and cities and providing a quality environment for residents, especially older or disabled people.

I said that a significant proportion of the households on waiting lists were one parent households and 17,000 households consist of one adult and one or more children; approximately 11,000 of those households consist of one adult and one child only. Bearing this in mind, it is of crucial importance to ensure that new housing by local authorities is fully integrated into the full range of social and community supports and backup.

I have outlined some of the actions being taken by the Government across the social housing spectrum. Of course I acknowledge that problems exist. However, the Government has taken real and positive steps to address these problems and will continue to do so over the coming years. A range of factors including rapid economic growth, growth in employment and in immigration together with social and demographic changes have placed our entire housing system under extraordinary and unprecedented pressure. Relative to our population we are building more new houses and at a faster rate than any other European country.

My priority is to ensure that we continue at this high level and that the needs of the weakest sectors of our community are adequately addressed through our local authority and social housing programmes. I commend the Government amendment of the motion to the House.

Mr. Gilmore:

I wish to share my time with Deputies Penrose, Wall and Stagg.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Gilmore:

Amendment No. 2 in the names of the Members of the Labour Party states:

In the first paragraph, after the words "calls on the Government to:", to insert the following:

"–commence a front-loaded social and local authority house building programme for 50,000 dwellings and that this programme be reviewed annually;

–authorise each local authority to assemble a land bank, by compulsory purchase order if necessary, which would be sufficient to meet the need for building land for local authority housing, voluntary sector housing and affordable private housing;".

Today the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and urban renewal finally published the national housing figures, six months after the assessment was completed, and published today only because of parliamentary questions this afternoon and this debate tonight. Tomorrow's headlines, carefully spun by the Minister of State's media handlers, who have been more successful in building his reputation and that of his colleague, Deputy Dempsey, than they have been in building houses, will probably tell the nation that there are 39,000 on the housing waiting lists. The Minister's reply to my questions in the House this afternoon tells us there are an additional 6,000 considered suitable for other social housing measures, bringing the figure to 45,000, but if we look more closely at the document issued by the Minister, we find that the real figure is even higher again. In fact, taking all housing needs together, the total figure of those on local authority housing lists in March 1999 was 50,715. There it is, at the bottom of table 1. It is not 39,000 at all; it is 50,715, the number included in the assessment – that is the total, including the number suited to social housing, the number suited to social welfare supplementary allowance, the numbers resident in overcrowded and materially unsuitable local authority housing, the number included in other local authority housing assessment, the number of travellers suited to caravan parks and the net approved need. That is the total – 50,715, not the deducted figure the Minister quoted today in the House.

If anything, this huge, unprecedented figure is an understatement of the overall housing need because the figures are now six months old and in that six month period the picture has worsened. I know, for example, that in my local authority area of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, the current number on the housing list is approximately 400 more than last March and if that pattern is repeated throughout the country, the figures published today may be understating the real size of the housing waiting list by as much as 20 per cent. However, officially the list stands at 50,715 on local authority waiting lists. At a time of unprecedented prosperity, this is a cause of shame for the Government. That the number of homeless should have doubled in the lifetime of this Government with the enormous financial resources available to the State is a cause for scandal.

These are the worst housing figures in living memory, but they are only figures. Behind every one of those 50,000 there is a story of human need – the young couple living in the tiny box room of his mother's council home with three children aged under five and space so scarce that the week old baby has to sleep on the floor; the woman who is evicted from her private flat after 13 years tenancy and who has to turn to the local authority for housing; the man who suffers from a serious heart problem and whose two daughters, each with her own two children, are sharing the three bedroomed family home with parents, an adult brother and an adult sister; the families who are paying huge rent for private accommodation in which they have no security of tenure, etc., and I could go on.

Everybody on the housing list has a real and pressing need for housing. They cannot afford to buy and they cannot afford to continue to live as they are. They need to be housed. The response from this Government, however, is not only inadequate but is cruel and deceptive. The Minister of State's speech was particularly unhelpful and unsympathetic to those on the housing lists. The speech refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem. It is a speech about downplaying the problem and downplaying the numbers on the housing lists. It is playing up the Government's so-called initiatives and rubbishing the idea that 10,000 houses are required each year. Then, in a disingenuous aside one could only expect from a Minister of State whose party leader told single parents they should stay at home with their parents, he twice drew attention to the number of lone parents on the local authority housing lists as if to imply that somehow they do not have a real housing need.

This Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat Government has failed those on the housing lists. This is the Government whose present Tánaiste told the people during the last general election that single parents should be living at home with their mothers. She has been true to her word because her Government and her Minister of State have done nothing to house them independently. This is the Government which, up to the beginning of this year, was insisting there was no housing crisis at all, just as they would now have us believe that the crisis is now under control.

House prices are stabilising we are told, even though house prices will rise by approximately 25 per cent in 1999. The new planning Bill will provide land for social housing we are told, even though it will not take effect for at least three years. Today, the Minister of State proclaims there will be increased social housing output over the next four years which will meet the needs of over 50,000 households, but if we look a little closer at his programme we find his aspiration is empty.

The Minister of State's plan is to provide 4,500 houses this year. This is a pathetic contribution against a list of 50,000 applicants. In any event, the 4,500 target will not be achieved. In each of the past five years, the actual supply of local authority houses has fallen far short of the allocation originally announced. Last year, for example, only 2,778 local authority houses were completed, even though the announcement for house starts was approximately 3,500.

Mr. O'Flynn:

How did that compare with 1996 and 1997?

Mr. Gilmore:

When we were in Government there were half as many people on the local authority housing waiting list, people could afford to buy a home and we did not have the housing crisis we have now. The worst thing to happen to people on the housing list was the change of Government in June 1997.

Only 485 voluntary sector houses were completed last year. The Minister says he intends to increase this to 4,000per annum over the coming years but so far he has not told us how he is going to achieve this. The reality is that, at best, only half of the 50,000 people on the housing list will have their needs met under the Minister of State's plans. The Labour Party has studied the housing crisis and produced the only comprehensive analysis of the problem in its totality, in the report of the housing commission chaired by Professor P. J. Drudy of Trinity College, Dublin. The only way to meet the housing needs of the 50,000 on the waiting list is to build and provide 50,000 social and local authority houses, and the Minister of State and the Government should now decide to provide those additional homes. Local authorities should be empowered to acquire the necessary land, by compulsory purchase if neces sary, to begin designing the housing schemes, to prepare the tender documents and to start construction. Building homes takes time, from conception to construction. Why wait to begin the work of designing and building the 50,000 homes which we already know are needed to meet the requirements of the 50,000 on the housing list? I agree with one aspect of the Minister of State's approach to the housing problem, namely, the need to change to a multi-annual housing programme. However, he is making a mistake in delaying the introduction of this programme until next year, and the 22,000 he intends to provide through it is less than half the number required.

The Minister of State took issue with the desirability of local authorities providing 10,000 new homes in each of the next four years. The approach suggested by the Labour Party is justified by the numbers on the housing list. It is also justified by an article by Dr. Tony Fahy of the ESRI in the current issue of the Irish Banking Review. Dr. Fahy points out that local authority house building has always been a major feature of Irish housing provision. To date, local authorities have built some 330,000 dwellings, 30 per cent of the present housing stock. Since 1987, social housing construction has consistently fallen below 10 per cent of total new housing construction, in contrast with levels in the range of 20 to 30 per cent, which were the long-term norms in the decades prior to the late 1980s. He concludes that we will need a four-fold increase in social housing output over the next decade compared to the past decade.

Dr. Fahy draws attention to the implicit rule of thumb in Irish housing policy over most of the past century, that between one quarter and one third of new households require accommodation provided by local authorities or through some form of social housing. There is no reason to believe that this need has lessened. The current state of house prices suggests the proportion might now be higher. Young professionals such as teachers were always able to buy their own homes until now. If we are to apply the home loan criteria explained to us by the Minister, Deputy Dempsey – two and a half times the principal earnings plus the subsidiary earnings – two teachers on salaries of £25,000 and £20,000 respectively would be unable to buy a starter home in the greater Dublin area at present. The logic of this position is that there must be a phenomenal increase in the provision of public and social housing. The price of the Government's failure will have to be paid in huge increases in public expenditure to provide public and social housing.

The increased housing output to which the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, so often refers may be meeting demand from those with the spare cash to buy an extra apartment in downtown Dublin or a seaside holiday home in Kilkee, but it is clearly not meeting the housing need of those currently frozen out of the market. Last year, for example, total housing output was over 42,000 but only slightly more than 3,000 housing units, less than 8 per cent of the total, was made up of local authority and voluntary housing, a far cry from the 25 to 30 per cent which Dr. Fahy estimates is required.

Looking to the future, the ESRI estimates that 500,000 new dwellings will be needed in Ireland over the next ten years or so. If 25 to 30 per cent of these will need to be provided for young families who will be unable to buy, then between 125,000 and 150,000 social and local authority housing units will be needed over the next decade. Set against this enormous requirement, a major kick-start must be given to the social and public housing programme. The Labour Party says we must start a programme to build 50,000 houses. Local authorities must be empowered to secure the land on which to build these houses.

If necessary, our housing structures and the system of administering and managing our public housing programme may have to be reformed to deliver on this requirement. Responsibility for delivering our housing needs will have to be met by a specially established national housing authority and the housing services currently provided by local authorities and health boards, which are currently unco-ordinated, must be drawn together into local housing authorities, extending responsibility not only for the building and provision of the social and public housing programme, but also for the supervision of the private rented sector and the acquisition and delivery of land for private sector housing to be built at an affordable price.

The need to provide additional local authority housing is only part of the solution to this problem, which must be examined in its totality. There is a need to provide not only additional social and public housing but protection for tenants in private rented accommodation. There has been an increase in the number of people meeting their housing needs by renting privately. Unfortunately, this is the only country in Europe where a landlord is free to put up the rent as often as he likes, whenever he likes, to whatever level he likes, on accommodation in which the tenant has no security of tenure. We need legislation to provide protection for tenants in the private rented sector and to regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants.

We also need to ensure the continuing escalation of house prices is brought under control. So far, the Government has failed to do this. The measures announced are not succeeding. The Bacon measures did not succeed – there was a temporary respite from investment buying in the private housing market but it only lasted for a few months. The proposals in the planning Bill, which we will debate later this year, will not meet requirements because they will not kick in for at least three years. We need from this Government a comprehensive national housing strategy, something we have not had to date.

However, we will get that only if the Government accepts that we have a serious housing crisis which will not be met by market means alone and that talking up the Minister's actions and talking down the problem will not resolve it.

Mr. Penrose:

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on the most pressing social issue in Irish society. I am aware of the importance of local authority housing because in the late 1950's and early 1960's my family was lucky enough to be housed by Westmeath County Council. All my political life I have campaigned solidly and fearlessly for a significant increase in the building of local authority houses. I remember – there are some people here who may have forgotten – the dark days of the 1980s when hundreds of people were on the housing list in Westmeath and thousands were on housing lists across the country. Those people were victims of the savage cutbacks in public expenditure. We know now there may have been other reasons for the cutbacks, but I unashamedly championed the cause of those people who were condemned to live in mobile homes, caravans and other forms of dangerous accommodation. People with six and eight children were living in mobile homes. I pledged that when the Labour Party returned to Government – I was delighted when it did, in coalition with Fianna Fáil – it would restore a commitment to build local authority housing, which was forgotten about in the rush to satisfy other vested interests in the 1980s.

In the past two years house prices have increased. Local authority housing waiting lists and rents in the private sector have spiralled out of control. The Government response to this crisis, which is causing untold hardship to thousands of families, as has been documented by my colleague, Deputy Gilmore, has been partial and ineffective. I have no doubt that a central plank in achieving a sustained decrease in local housing lists is a strong commitment to public expenditure. It worries me that the commitment may well be only half-hearted. It comes down to pounds, shillings and pence. In this time of plenty there is no excuse, other than a lack of commitment, for failure to ensure that people are awarded their constitutional right to decent accommodation. It is the duty, responsibility and obligation of the Government to ensure sufficient funding is given to local authorities to build a significant number of local authority houses. In the first instance they should be given money to acquire a significant land bank and service sites.

The serviced land initiative was all right for the private sectors, but the same commitment needs to be given to local authorities so they can service available land. They should be given power to sell those sites, perhaps at a subsidised rate, to some of those on the housing list. There is a new poor on housing lists. Once, those on housing lists were people like my family, county council workers, the unemployed and those on disability benefit. Now teachers are thinking about going on the housing list because, as Deputy Gilmore accurately pointed out, they cannot afford to purchase a house for the first time. The same applies to couples on what, five or six years ago, we would have called comfortable salaries.

The main reason for the Government's failure to tackle the housing crisis is that it sees the issue as purely economic. The two major reports from Dr. Peter Bacon highlight this – both are entitled An Economic Assessment of the Housing Market. Housing is more than a matter of economics and any political response to the housing crisis must recognise this. Housing is a social and political right because without housing a citizen cannot vindicate his or her other rights enshrined in the Constitution. Without decent housing people cannot raise their families in security. The Labour Party's housing commission report recognises this fact. I compliment Deputy Gilmore for the trojan work he and his colleagues have undertaken in the past year in publishing one of the most progressive, far-reaching and profound reports on housing that has ever been produced.

The Labour Party firmly believes that local authority housing must play a central role in the current housing crisis. During the 1980s and early 1990s the local authority house building programme practically ground to a halt. It is now apparent that while social investment programmes were severely cut back, some of the wealthiest were salting their money away in foreign accounts with the intention of evading their social obligation to pay the tax they owed. When this money is recovered, I hope whatever Government is in power will ensure that those who paid most for those cutbacks will be the first to gain. Ensuring significant investment in public housing is one of the best ways of achieving this goal.

With every new public housing initiative we should learn from the mistakes of the past. Too often public housing units have been built in isolation. Sometimes we have not given proper thought to providing the facilities and services a community needs. We must never repeat these mistakes. In fairness, this has been grasped by local authorities in building new houses. Recreational facilities, green spaces, decent public transport and well resourced estate management initiatives are as important to the success of local authority houses as the bricks and mortar used in their construction.

Some people used to look at local authority houses as a second rate form of housing. However, that was often because no services were provided. I am delighted the houses being built by local authorities now are some of the best in the country. However, we should ensure that when we build social housing units, they are the basis of real community life.

In common with every other local authority, the housing list in Westmeath County Council continues to grow each month, with more than 500 on the list. However, throughout Westmeath derelict cottages and houses litter the landscape. I know many young couples who cannot afford to buy a home of their own. I cannot understand why an initiative which would encourage the renovation of derelict houses has not been established so young couples will be given the opportunity to raise their families in the locality where they grew up. This is an important point to which I have a strong and profound commitment. Depopulation is threatening the future of dozens of rural communities while at the same time urban areas are chock-a-block and there are deficits in services, transport and other infrastructure.

There are houses scattered throughout rural areas. As I previously suggested, a £15,000 grant should be introduced which would not be for the wealthy or those fat cats who did not pay their taxes but for ordinary people who could purchase these houses. They would have to commit to living in an area for a minimum of seven years. If they left before than time, a proportional amount of the grant would have to be repaid. All grant applicants would be subject to income qualifying criteria to assess whether they had a genuine need for grant assistance and a maximum income of £25,000 would apply. The rural areas which would benefit from such a targeted scheme would be clearly identified by examining the decrease in population experienced between the 1991 and 1996 census of population. An imaginative renovation grant scheme would introduce new housing stock for the market, add new lifeblood to rural Ireland and remove the eyesore of derelict buildings from the landscape. This is not the first time I have raised this matter in the House and I have yet to receive a positive response.

I would like to bring to the Minister's attention a category of people who no one seems to mention as regards housing. These are middle-aged people from 35 to 50 years who for whatever reason live alone. They often have to live in the worst private rented accommodation available. Their names are on the housing list but in reality there is no chance of them being provided with housing.

Debate adjourned.