The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on flooding, to be taken at the conclusion of the Order of Business and conclude not later than 1.15 p.m., with the contributions of all Senators not to exceed six minutes and the Minister to be called on to reply not later than 1.10 p.m.; and No. 2, statements on foreign affairs - an update on developments in the Middle East and Ukraine, to be taken at 1.30 p.m. and conclude not later than 3 p.m., with the contributions of all Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be called on to reply not later than 2.55 p.m.
Order of Business
There must be an election in the air because three Departments have each made a major announcement in the past three days.
It is all par for the course.
We sorted out the country.
It is being sorted out all right.
We had to exit the troika programme first.
Please allow Senator Mark Daly to continue, without interruption.
The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, stated last week that he intended to leave a legacy. While there is no doubt that he will be remembered, unfortunately, it will be for all the wrong reasons.
A new Garda Commissioner was appointed two days ago. Despite being an insider, we have been promised that she will sweep the Garda clean. Somehow or other, the Commissioner saw nothing when so many penalty points were being quashed.
The Senator's comment is not fair to the Garda Commissioner's reputation. She is not here to defend herself.
These issues were raised at the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality with the Commissioner present.
She is not here to defend herself.
She would be most welcome if she were to come to the House to defend herself.
The Senator must withdraw his remark.
I have ruled on the matter. Does Senator Mark Daly have a question for the Leader?
As I stated, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, wishes to leave a legacy, but he will make his mark for all the wrong reasons. The housing plan announced yesterday was a reannouncement of previous plans. It is, to a large degree, a work of fiction. The Health Service Executive's service plan which will be published today will also largely be a work of fiction.
Hans Christian Andersen would have been proud of it because the plan is way different from the reality. The reality we see on the ground is exemplified by the report of the Coroner's Court in Limerick, as detailed in today's newspapers. A critically ill man was brought to the accident and emergency department of Limerick University Hospital, but he never saw a doctor before he died. That is the reality. What we also see in emergency departments is paramedics arriving with patients on stretchers and having to stay there for hours before overworked doctors can take the patients off their hands. The ambulances involved are not available during that time because the system is not working. Today there are 800 patients in hospitals, taking up beds, who should not be there. They are there because the fair deal scheme has been cut. Whatever about the plan which is a work of fiction to a large degree , the reality is entirely different. In County Kerry the scandal-----
The Senator should not display newspapers in the Chamber.
There are no service plans.
Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?
I ask the Leader to organise a debate on the HSE's service plan. I will not push the matter to a vote on the Order of Business today because the plan has only been published, but we should have a debate on it next week to see how real it is.
I know that a debate is scheduled for today on the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East, but I ask the Leader to invite the Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, to the House, as the first ever spokesperson on the Irish overseas and the diaspora, to discuss President Obama's executive order. Some of the 50,000 undocumented Irish in the United States will be assisted by it, but I ask the Leader to encourage the Government to ensure that funding is made available to the Irish centres throughout the United States. The Aisling Irish Community Centre in New York does great work, as do the Irish pastoral centres in Boston and San Francisco. However, they need assistance and funding. I ask the Leader to urge the Government to look for a humanitarian visa for those who are not covered by the executive order in order that they would be able to come home at times of bereavement. I would also like to see waivers being granted to those who have violated the terms of their visas in the past.
I thank the Leader and the Deputy Leader for facilitating the passing of a motion relating to Cumann na mBan. It is non-Government motion No. 8 on the Order Paper and I wish to move it today.
Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business?
Yes. I propose that non-Government motion No. 8 on the Order Paper be taken today.
I welcome the appointment of Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan as Garda Commissioner, following her recommendation by the Public Appointments Service as the only suitable candidate. It is important to note that there was an open and transparent recruitment and appointment process. As well as welcoming her appointment, it is also important that we all support her in the ongoing important work of reforming An Garda Síochána. We are all very conscious, after this year in particular, of the need for reform. I know that the new Commissioner has given a commitment to ongoing reform. In that context, I ask the Leader for a debate on policing reform, specifically in the light of the recent Garda Inspectorate report which threw up particular questions around the recording of crime statistics, which I have raised in the House previously. Perhaps we might have that debate in the new year.
I very much welcome yesterday's announcement by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, of the social housing strategy. Whatever grudging comments may be made about it by the Opposition, it is hugely important. It is a legacy issue which the Government is dealing with. The reality is that during the boom years, there was almost no investment in social housing. The real scandal is that when the money was available to build social housing units and when waiting lists were actually climbing before 2011, there was almost no social housing being built. That is the real scandal which is often neglected in the discussions about the need for housing and the homelessness figures. The strategy announced by the Minister yesterday is a very real and ambitious programme to ensure that we deliver on social housing for those who need it. What he has proposed is 35,000 new social housing units to be delivered over six years, by 2020. He is putting forward €3.8 billion, most of which is direct Government funding, to meet the costs of building, acquiring and leasing these 35,000 units. While it is very ambitious, it is achievable. I urge all Members to read the strategy which sets out very clear pathways or methods of working to ensure delivery of the plan. It is ambitious, admittedly, but it is dealing with a legacy of neglect of this area and the failure, over successive years, of previous Governments to deliver social housing for those who needed it. That, as I have said, is the real scandal of the housing and homelessness problem. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on the issue in due course. It would be advisable to allow some time to see the strategy begin to be operational. Perhaps in a couple of months we might review the strategy and discuss its implementation. It is entirely good news which must be welcomed, in fairness, by Members on all sides of the House.
I welcome another good news item in the context of legal change, namely, the proposed changes to the adoption laws. Proposals have been brought forward for changes to the adoption laws to enable, in particular, children who are in long-term foster care to be adopted. Up until now, as colleagues will be aware, only a tiny number of such children have been eligible for adoption because of the highly restrictive nature of the adoption laws. Once we see the children's rights referendum decision being delivered, which I understand is imminent, the way will be cleared for legislation to enable the adoption of an estimated 2,000 of the 6,000 children in care. That will give these children legal security. It will also give legal security to their foster parents who may have been caring for them in loco parentis, for many years.
This morning the Christmas road safety drive will be launched by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, the Garda Commissioner, Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan, and the chairperson of the Road Safety Authority, Ms Liz O'Donnell. All three have been appointed to their posts relatively recently and I wish Ms O'Sullivan and Ms O'Donnell every success in their respective roles. The emphasis on this occasion will be on drug driving. However, the deliberations of this House show that the whistleblower issue merits further investigation, which I hope the Commissioner will initiate. Furthermore, there are court cases taking place where it is not a requirement to produce a driving licence and therefore the licence cannot be endorsed. The absence of a requirement in Ireland that those who drive should have their driving licences with them has led to the situation, as reported to the House, where 40% of penalty points were incurred by people who were recorded as having no driving licence. However, that was not true. The people concerned were not boy racers. The requirement to produce a driving licence in court and to have one when driving should be examined as part of improving road safety. The road safety statistics have started to deteriorate again. We had an excellent period for road safety, but that is changing.
I also wish to raise the issue of the requirement for mortgage applicants to have a 20% deposit which was endorsed by the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Honohan, at yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, as well as by Mr. Ross Maguire, SC, of New Beginning this morning. The endorsement by Mr. Maguire is very important, given the work being carried out by New Beginning. The proceedings of the committee are described by Mr. Thomas Molloy, a very witty and erudite journalist, in today's edition of the Irish Independent who notes that Mr. Honohan is in favour of the 20% deposit requirement. Mr. Molloy goes on to say:
His paymaster, Michael Noonan, clearly wants the property party to continue indefinitely. The European Central Bank, to which Mr. Honohan has sworn an oath to consider the big picture, wants the opposite.
Those of us who know the Minister know that this is not an accurate description. Nobody wants property bubbles. More and more people in economic circles are saying that the 20% deposit requirement is a good idea. It may seem like harsh medicine at the beginning, but we must save the country from what the banks would do through irresponsible lending. It will also save people from getting into unnecessary debt. Those endorsements of the 20% deposit requirement are very important in terms of assisting us in developing a policy to prevent house price bubbles from happening here ever again.
The comments by Senator Mark Daly about the new Garda Commissioner are outrageous and I ask that he withdraw them.
I have already ruled on that issue.
The Senator did not withdraw his comments.
Senator Mark Daly also made reference to works of fiction. The greatest work of fiction, or comedy, was when former Deputies Dermot Ahern and Noel Dempsey stood on the plinth and the IMF and the ECB were not coming into the country and that a bailout was not necessary.
That is a total misrepresentation of what actually happened.
Please allow Senator Pat O'Neill to speak without interruption.
That was the greatest work of fiction we had ever seen.
The Senator should withdraw that remark.
Does Senator Pat O'Neill have a question for the Leader?
I know that we have had a lot of debate on the water issue, but we should reopen the debate. I ask the Leader to arrange another debate on water services because of the hypocrisy of the Sinn Féin Party. More than 35,000 water meters have been installed in Northern Ireland.
(Interruptions).
The Senator should not display newspapers in the Chamber.
It is time that party stated in this House-----
Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?
I am asking the Leader to arrange a debate on water provision in order that we can find out what is the true Sinn Féin policy on water charges.
Stand for election.
If it is in government after the next general election, it will decide to leave water charges in place because it will need the revenue to improve the infrastructure. It should not try to cod the people all of the time; it is doing one thing in the North and another in the South. I seek a debate on its policy on Irish Water.
On Senator Pat O'Neill's point about the Garda Commissioner, while on a personal level I wish her well and hope she will do a good job, Senator Mark Daly was perfectly within his rights to make a legitimate point. It is a fact that the person in question was deputy commissioner when many of these issues came to light. That is worth noting and remembering.
Is the Senator expressing confidence in her?
I expressed hope, not confidence.
Will the Leader arrange a debate on the contribution of the Governor of the Central Bank in recent days? I believe he is wrong and would like to see what science informs his push for 20% deposits. I worked in the building society sector more than 20 years ago, long before there was a boom, and the policy was to seek a 10% deposit. In fact, one could obtain an additional 2% if one had a bond. Of course, one also had to have a clear income and savings record and there were clear metrics in terms of the multiples of one's salary or the main salary plus the second salary with which one had to comply.
That was before the cowboys were on the pitch, some of the people whom the Senator encouraged.
Senator Marc MacSharry to continue, without interruption.
The Punchestown gang.
Long after the horse has bolted, the Central Bank is attempting to close a door it need not even leave ajar. The reality is that people are struggling and will struggle to get on the housing ladder. Appropriate regulations on lending are required. There is no need to discriminate against young families starting off, which is precisely what a measure such as this will do. It will not affect Governor Honohan in the ivory tower on Dame Street or anybody in these Houses, given the salaries and supports we have available, but it will affect many others throughout the country. It is discrimination. I do not like to disagree with my learned colleague, Senator Sean D. Barrett, but he, too, is wrong on this issue of the 20% deposit. There is no science whatsoever that can take from what is a discriminatory move by the Governor of the Central Bank.
I welcome the very positive job figures published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office which show that 80,000 more people are at work compared to the first quarter of 2012, when An Action Plan for Jobs was first initiated. Employment in the last quarter increased in all eight regions of the country, with the strongest increases in the west, the Border region and the south east. However, we must continue to fine-tune the plan to ensure every sector is given the opportunity to benefit from the general upturn in the economy. I look forward to having the Minister back in the House shortly to discuss An Action Plan for Jobs 2015.
Will the Leader arrange a debate with the Minister for Education and Skills on career guidance and counselling in second level schools? I make this request in the light of a survey conducted by the Education and Training Boards of Ireland, ETBI, which runs one third of all second level schools in Ireland. The survey shows that nine out of ten school principals believe they are not delivering an adequate guidance service to pupils and that the service requires a 50% increase. We are all aware of the pressures young people are under, not only in making career choices for the future but also with mental health issues, bullying and other general pressures. In 2012 schools lost an entitlement to hours for career guidance and counselling which are now provided out of the standard teaching hours quota. The cuts have had a big impact on the time available to students and also put huge pressure on principals and deputy principals. The survey also highlights the concerns of principals and deputy principals about the inadequacy of middle management structures in schools generally and the impact this is having on their ability to implement the many educational reforms. The general secretary of the ETBI has called, sensibly, for a forum to develop practical proposals to address these issues. This House would be an ideal place in which to discuss the viability of such a forum. Perhaps the Leader might arrange a debate with the Minister on this significant issue which is hugely important to school principals.
Today is Thanksgiving Day and there is much for which we can be thankful. I have in mind two newly appointed Ministers, both of whom are former Members of this House, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is announcing today some developments in the pursuit of road safety, particularly in regard to drugs and alcohol. Senator Sean D. Barrett also referred to this issue. These two men have come into their new jobs with enthusiasm, commitment and energy, as we have seen with the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, in the case of road safety and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, in the case of social housing, an issue to which Senator Ivana Bacik referred. It is a reminder of what can happen if the right Minister is appointed to do something. A lot can be done on that basis.
The reason I mention this issue is that a few weeks ago I raised the matter of pensions and the big challenge it posed for us. The United Kingdom and Australia have a Minister for pensions. Between now and the next general election we must discuss the question of pensions and the solution is to have a Minister for pensions. It is a huge crisis and challenge for the future. Four Departments have responsibility for pensions - the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation which looks after the insurance aspect, the Department of Finance which looks after the major income in the sector and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Each Department is holding onto its own piece of the sector, whereas in other countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia and perhaps others there is a Minister for pensions. Between now and the next general election we should make enough noise to ensure the incoming new Government - it will not happen before then - will have a Minister for pensions. It is easier to do it when a new Government is being formed because it will not have to take the task away from four existing Departments. I urge that we have a debate in the coming year - the election could be held in less than one year or perhaps later - on the huge crisis in pensions. The figures are huge. If we do not discuss the issue in the near future, the new Government will end up with the same difficulties as the current Government.
I wish to distance myself from the remarks made about the Garda Commissioner. I wish Nóirín O'Sullivan the best of luck. It is a great week for her and her family. To be the first female Garda Commissioner is a significant achievement. It is worth noting that practically all of the senior positions in the justice sector are now held by females. We are witnessing positive changing times.
Will the Leader organise a debate on casual trading? We have seen an evolution in casual trading in recent years. There are very successful farmers' markets in practically every county; there are numerous such markets in some counties which are all very positive and create a European style trading environment. The most healthy produce is produced in this country, as well as great artisan food, crafts and so forth. Therefore, a debate on the issue would be welcome. There are areas that require examination, particularly what is defined as casual trading in the case of events such as festivals. If one purchases and pays for a product to take away, that is deemed to be casual trading.
However, if one goes to a fortune teller or a psychic and hands in €20, or €50 in some cases, and does not bring away anything, that is not classified as casual trading. As such the people in question do not come within the remit of casual trading by-laws. Their vehicles must be considered in the same remit as casual trading because money does change hands. We must update our casual trading legislation. In advance of this, a debate in this House on the issue of casual trading, both the positives and the negatives, would be welcome.
Roinnt mhaith uaireanta sa chúpla bliain ó toghadh mé tá mé tar éis cás na líomhaintí gnéis i gcoinne Domhnall Uí Lubhlaí nach maireann, bunaitheoir Choláiste na bhFiann, a ardú sna Tithe seo agus muid ag lorg fiosrúcháin maidir lenar tharla, maidir le fiosrúcháin na ngardaí agus ar uile. I have raised the case of Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí, deceased, the founder of Coláiste na bhFiann and the allegations of sexual abuse against him by potentially up to 100 people. A number of court cases ensued on allegations daing back to 1955 and the cases collapsed because of a lack of evidence brought forward in the courts. I have raised the issue a number of times on the Adjournment, etc., with different Ministers because issue this crosses the Departments of Education and Skills; Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht; Health; and Justice and Equality, as well as An Garda Síochána. There has been an internal investigation by An Garda Síochána. I am concerned to hear this week on the appointment of the new Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O'Sullivan, that two of the victims in this case received a letter from An Garda Síochána saying the internal review has concluded and the report will not be made available to them in any form, redacted or otherwise. This is a bad move in the light of the statements made about how there will be openness, transparency and a whole new ethos in An Garda Síochána, because it is felt the cases in court fell apart due to a lack of competence on the part of An Garda Síochána and that evidence was not made available when it was needed. I called at the time for an internal inquiry into that matter.
It is also interesting that the report has been made available to the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, since, I am told, 21 July. She has not contacted the victims in the case and has not made the report available. I am also told that the internal HSE investigation is being held up because it has not received documents from the Department of Justice and Equality and An Garda Síochána. I am very concerned about this. I do not think it augurs well for the new regime in An Garda Síochána. I am also aware that the Minister would have been aware of this case when she was Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. We still have serious questions to answer. I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on openness and transparency in the Department of Justice and Equality and An Garda Síochána on these issues. I also call on him to use his good office to contact the Minister and ask her whether the report will be made available to the victims-----
The Senator is way over time.
-----and how soon this will happen, whether the other reports could be expedited and whether we could have a full and open discussion on this whole case. If there are other victims-----
The Senator is way over time.
It is important to say victims could be listening to this and if they have information, they should come forward and seek support in any way needed.
I welcome the good news that has been referred to - the approximately 80,000 additional people working compared to the first quarter of 2012, the 35,000 new units of social housing and the €3.8 billion that will be invested in the next six years. It is very challenging and ambitious but worthy of doing. It is a legacy issue, as has been said, something we inherited which must be tackled. We have had practically a 9% increase in visitor numbers and in the number of people employed in tourism, as those opposite will know, and the public service obligation on the Kerry and Donegal flight routes has been retained. All of this is tremendous news. It will build our confidence and get us beyond the fragile state we are in. We know the graphs are going in the right direction. This will do wonders in particular for the construction sector, which will have an effect through the rest of the economy and is to be greatly welcomed. I do not want to be harsh on my colleague opposite, Senator Mark Daly. His remarks about-----
I can see that the Senator is trying to provoke me.
I will not be harsh on the Senator this morning. I hope his remarks regarding the Garda Commissioner, whom I heartily congratulate in line with everybody else, were rather unfortunate, but perhaps he might think better of it and correct the record.
I commented on her inability to see anything that was going on.
With respect, I do not believe it was necessary for the Senator to propose any amendment to the Order of Business because as we knew - we had a chat about it - the Leader was going to move the motion on Cumann na mBan this morning.
I am not surprised that the Government side is applauding the fact that the unemployment rate is down and I would certainly be very happy for anybody who has been out of work and has found work. I hope that continues, but it is cold comfort to 160 people in Carrick-on-Shannon and the surrounding areas of my hometown in County Leitrim who are losing their jobs this morning in the MBNA office in Carrick-on-Shannon. A workforce of 200 will be left in a state-of-the-art building which housed some 1,100 employees from all over the hinterland of Carrick-on-Shannon when it opened. There are people in my hometown of Drumshanbo who will be out of work today. What have the Government and IDA Ireland been doing about it? They have been doing damn all, with due respect. There has been one visit by IDA Ireland to my county in the last couple of years and we do not even know where it was. Here we have a highly skilled workforce in the financial sector, a state-of-the-art building and a willingness and enthusiasm by the local authority and local elected representatives to welcome any company that would come into that building. In fact, yesterday a high powered delegation from Leitrim County Council, led by my colleague, the chairman, Councillor Paddy O'Rourke, with the CEO of Leitrim County Council and the county enterprise officer, Joe Lowe, met the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Simon Harris, who has responsibility for the financial sector, as well as Government procurement.
I am pleading with the Government to do something for my part of the country. There is an unevenness about employment prospects in this country. If one happens to live on the east coast, one has a far better chance of getting a job with some of the foreign multinationals that come in here, but what is the Government going to do about County Leitrim? What is it going to do about Carrick-on-Shannon and the workers who are now without work four or five weeks before Christmas? What will they tell their children? Will they tell them there will be no Santa this year? The Government should get real about what is happening in rural Ireland. The national figures may look great, but on the ground there are people who are suffering because they are out of work. They should not be out of work. If we are to believe that the economy is moving fast and that it is improving, where are the jobs? I am pleading with the Government and I am asking the Leader that Deputy Richard Bruton, the Minister responsible, come into this House and outline the Government's policy on regional development and the provision of jobs in counties like my own and towns such as Carrick-on-Shannon.
I am quite disturbed by what we learned yesterday from the Governor of the Central Bank. I second Senator Mark MacSharry's request for a debate on this issue. The European Central Bank, ECB, has decided it will not participate in the Irish banking inquiry. This shows a total disregard for the European concept of democracy. It looks like Mr. Draghi will not be dragged before the Oireachtas to explain the ECB's role in our bust. The Irish banks did not get the money to fuel the boom that led to this unholy bust from the sky. Somebody somewhere gave them the money and it now looks like those who gave it to them want to wash their hands of it. They have forced us to repay their bondholders and put the economy on the rocks to save the ECB.
The European Central Bank was the ultimate authority when the Irish Central Bank failed to bring in controls to manage he economy. People sat on their hands and allowed it to happen. Now Mr. Draghi and his cohort have turned around and said we can hold an inquiry, but they are not going to come here and answer for their part. I yesterday called for a vote. I said the banking inquiry was a farce. If we cannot have them attend, that is all it is. I, therefore, second Senator Marc MacSharry's request that we hold a debate on this issue. I disagree with the Senator on the 20% deposit issue and I am sticking to my guns on it. A 20% deposit is essential to cool the market. We can pretend there is no bubble, but we all know there is. There was a time when a person could borrow only two and a half times his or her salary. Now a person can borrow three and a half times his or her salary. I am running a survey of councillors across the country. Most councillors want a loan-to-income rather than a loan-to-value regime introduced. I ask the Leader to arrange the debate.
Senator Michael Mullins called for a debate with the Minister for Education and Skills on guidance counselling. I second that request also. I ask, however, that we do not have that debate before 10 December. I have arranged a briefing session with the National Parents Council, the guidance counsellors' association and Headstrong. That meeting will take place on Wednesday, 10 December, and I ask that as many Senators as possible attend. Then we will be able to have an informed debate.
I second Senator Mark Daly's amendment to the Order of Business and join other colleagues in welcoming the launch today by the Road Safety Authority, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner of the Christmas safe driving campaign. It is also welcome that the loophole in the Road Traffic Acts preventing gardaí from getting samples of blood from people involved in serious accidents who were unconscious or seriously injured has now been closed. Gardaí can now do so. This will lead to safer roads. I suggest to the Leader that we have a specific debate on road safety. Those of us who have been commuting to and from Dublin are aware that we have recently had very dense fog, particularly in the past two nights. I was amazed at the number of people driving without their fog lights. Believe it or not, some were driving without any lights on. I do not know how it is that there were not more serious accidents. It is time to have a general debate on road safety. It is time the Government made a substantial allocation to the Road Safety Authority in order that it can conduct major publicity campaigns on safer driving. It is very necessary.
I join Senators Mark Daly and Marc MacSharry and others in calling for the debate suggested by Senator Pat O'Neill on the water charges debacle. We cannot have a proper debate without the man who created this mess present in the Chamber. He did not listen to the people in this Chamber, nor for the three hours in the lower Chamber. That man is now a European Commissioner. He is over in Brussels, happy to be away from us all. He created this mess by rushing into establishing Irish Water without giving sufficient time to allow this to work properly. We should have that debate. The European Commissioner should be invited to the House to answer our questions.
I wish to mention the housing issue briefly. The announcement this week by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government on a new housing strategy was touched on. The same strategy was announced, with less money, on 14 October. I have read the Minister's announcement and whatever way it is viewed, there appears to be very little new in the report. The Minister speaks about the provision of 75,000 places through a new scheme which will be administered by local authorities. This is to replace the rent supplement scheme and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. At the end of 2013, there were 79,000 places under the RAS and the rent supplement scheme combined. I am not sure what the benefit is. On the other side, he speaks about the capital provision for housing, which I very much welcome. However, when one looks closely at what the Minister is talking about, one can see he is proposing the building of 22,500 houses or leasing of a further 11,000 houses. Also, councillors will be provided with money to allocate the 2,300 currently vacant properties owned by local authorities. We have to welcome the strategy. However, we must examine the detail. I ask the Leader to facilitate a debate with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government on the provision of social housing.
Coupled with this is the issue raised by Senator Marc MacSharry pertaining to the Central Bank's new mortgage proposals. I give a guarded welcome to the Central Bank's proposals. The bank situation is leaving many young couples in Dublin unable to rent or buy a house. Years ago - before my generation were buying houses - people had to save up before they got a loan. The banks are pushing the agenda through rent-seeking behaviour and their attempts to get policy makers such as ourselves to lobby for a reduction in the 20% threshold as sponsored by the Central Bank. That is a dangerous road to go down. Interest rates at a European level could rise. The Central Bank did nothing prior to the bust in 2008. We were very critical of it for not having relevant information. It is now trying to do something. It should be acknowledged for what it is trying to do.
I, too, wish to speak on the social housing strategy for 2020 and ask that the Minister be invited to the House. The strategy outlines a €1.5 billion guaranteed, up-front Exchequer investment in social housing from 2015 to 2017. There will be a further €300 million for housing projects by public private partnerships. The sum of €400 million will be made available through a new housing finance entity. I welcome the strategy, but there are pinch points. Take, for instance, a voluntary housing agency looking for a developer to build ten houses. The cost of a three-bedroom semi-detached house would be on average €160,000. The housing agency pays four fifths of the market price. This would be €138,000. It will cost the builder €145,000 to build the house. The opportunity for buying and selling is limited. An average leasing price is €800 per month. This would be a high price in some areas but is low in Dublin. In some areas, people are paying €500 per month for a three-bedroom house. Working with the figure of €800, a housing agency will pay four fifths of that, €640. The developer will have a yield of 2% from this. Bank costs are 4.7%.
Realistically, it will be difficult under the current model. There are other pinch points such as the fact that local authorities have land that was bought for millions of euro.
Is the Senator looking for a debate on the issue?
I am setting out two of the pinch points. Local authorities must charge €40,000 per site as a result.
The Senator is over time.
We need to have the Minister of State with responsibility for housing attend to ensure this excellent strategy and the funding provided can be spent in the next three years.
I call for a sense of reality in respect of the exuberance on the Government side on the increase in employment. Below the radar, one does not have to read into the detail too far to find that 23% of young people in the State are unemployed. Of those, 57% are long-term unemployed, meaning that they have been out of work for over one year. We have a crisis, notwithstanding the fact that the unemployment rate has improved. Thousands of young people continue to emigrate. While many of them have jobs, they still want to leave. We must address the reasons we cannot hold on to many young people who have jobs. Multinationals thrive in Ireland where conditions are perfect for them, but the conditions are not quite perfect for small and medium-sized Irish companies as ISME has so frequently reminded us. Last Friday night, Mr. Hugh Kelly, the president of the Irish Exporters Association, said:
We need to increase considerably the number of Irish companies exporting. We need to encourage Irish companies to believe they can succeed at exporting and we need to help Irish companies to risk to derisk rather than never to take a risk. We need to box clever to stretch our nation's limited resources.
I call for an urgent debate on the unbalanced regional development we have nationally. It was referred to this morning in the context of the position in County Leitrim. I want to discuss the lack of women entrepreneurs taking the risk of setting up businesses. I remind Members that 23% of young people are unemployed, of whom 57% have been out of work for over one year.
Many of them are in County Leitrim.
I welcome the intervention of Senator Jim D'Arcy on the housing programme announced yesterday. He introduced a note of caution and realism. While we will certainly need to have the Minister of State attend to tease it out with him, I hope we have a housing strategy rather than a strategy for developers and the construction industry. We must reflect on the fact that they are not the one thing. We all receive magazines every month from various interest groups and may not always reflect on them fully. However, we had an interesting magazine from the Construction Industry Federation within the past month. I read with interest the comments the director of that organisation made when he introduced the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Paudie Coffey, at the construction industry's AGM. He welcomed and boasted about the fact that the construction industry had its own Minister once again. I want the Minister of State to be the Minister for housing and for housing families, not the Minister for developers and the construction industry. We know what happened with that type of policy during the so-called "Celtic tiger era". The Minister of State and the senior Minister at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government are fully aware of the housing crisis in the State, but the approach to resolving it must be cautious. It must also be immediate. I find it difficult to comprehend economically and socially how there remain tens of thousands of almost completely finished or fully finished vacant houses, some owned by NAMA and some by others, the length and breadth of the country. Why can we not marry that solution to the housing crisis solution? In a sense, it leads back to Senator Paschal Mooney's point about balanced or unbalanced development in the State. Given the housing wastelands in some regions, leading, in turn, to economic wastelands, we should try to front-load some of the new housing budget into finishing estates and putting families into these houses.
We could debate this topic all day. It is something about which I feel very strongly and we need to meet the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, on it. While everyone must welcome a plan which sets aside billions of euro, billions of euro were used in the construction industry before and it was not to house people and for families. The money was used to turn millionaires into billionaires and to zone land which should never have been zoned. It caused the economic crisis from which we are still trying to recover. We do not want to repeat that problem. We need a realistic proposal whereby the housing of ordinary people - to use that phrase - is at the core of a policy led by the Government and its housing Minister, not the construction industry or developers.
It is regrettable that Senator Mark Daly questioned the suitability of the Garda Commissioner. It is reprehensible for him to do so on the morning she has been appointed. I am also sorry that the Senator has nothing positive to say about the housing strategy and the health service plan which has not even been announced yet. There is no positivity on the other side of the House in respect of something that has not even been announced.
He is not a very positive person.
He is actually.
I support the all-party motion on Cumann na mBan. I have no problem with it.
That is positivity.
I am being positive again.
I thank the Leader.
Senator Ivana Bacik, among many other Members, referred to the housing strategy which was announced yesterday. I note the points made by many speakers about the matter. I assure Senator Paul Bradford that the strategy is one for ordinary people; it is certainly not for developers and the construction industry. It is a roadmap to accommodate by 2020 all 90,000 households on waiting lists in homes in which to raise their families. That is the aim of the plan. I will certainly try to arrange to have the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, attend in the House before the break to have a debate on this very important issue.
Senator Ivana Bacik also welcomed the proposed changes to adoption law, with which we all agree.
Senator Sean D. Barrett referred to road safety issues, in particular the requirement to provide driving licences in court and the problems arising from it.
Senators Sean D. Barrett, Marc MacSharry, Gerard P. Craughwell and Brian Ó Domhnaill referred to the 20% deposit policy of the Central Bank. Senator Marc MacSharry differed from the other three speakers on the matter. I agree that we should have a debate on it in the House. There is obviously a difference of opinion on the issue among Members.
Senator Pat O'Neill and others asked for a debate on water charges. I assure them that we will have a further debate on the issue as the Water Services Bill will be dealt with before the end of the current session. There will, therefore, be ample opportunity to discuss it again.
Will the Commissioner be here?
We will have a flowing debate on the Water Services Bill.
Uisce faoi thalamh.
Some will sink, while others will swim as a result.
Senator Michael Mullins welcomed, as I do, the good news that 80,000 more people were at work. Members have been calling for a debate on job creation. In this context, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, will be with us next week to discuss the Action Plan for Jobs.
Senators Michael Mullins and Gerard P. Craughwell referred to guidance teachers and counsellors. I note Senator Gerard P. Craughwell's announcement that he will hold a seminar on 10 December.
As I doubt whether I will be able to have the Minister come to the House before then, he will be all right in that regard.
Senator Feargal Quinn welcomed the enthusiasm of the new Ministers, Deputies Paschal Donohoe and Alan Kelly, who are former Members of the House. We could add the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, to that list. The Senator also mentioned the need to have a Minister for pensions in the next Government and asked for a debate on pensions in the meantime. It is a very important and pressing issue, on which I agree with him. We will try to arrange that debate in the next term. We had such a debate some time ago.
Senator Martin Conway asked for a debate on the issue of casual trading. He said there was a need to update the legislation in that regard.
Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh referred to a specific case of victims of sexual abuse and the need for more openness and greater transparency in that regard. I agree with the sentiments he expressed. He has tabled Adjournment matters on the subject; perhaps he might table another.
Senator Paul Coghlan welcomed the good news on jobs, the housing strategy and the tourism figures. Senator Paschal Mooney and other Members on both sides of the House welcomed the 80,000 jobs created. I note the Senator's point about job losses in Carrick-on-Shannon, which are very regrettable. We will have an opportunity to discuss the matter with the Minister next week.
Senator Diarmuid Wilson welcomed the plugging of the loophole in road traffic offences linked with the taking of drugs and asked for a debate on road safety. I will ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, to come to the House to discuss the matter.
Senators Brian Ó Domhnaill, Jim D'Arcy and Paul Bradford referred to the housing strategy.
Senator Mary White referred to the 23% rate of youth unemployment, which is still a major problem, irrespective of how many jobs have been created. It is something we will address next week with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton. The Senator is perfectly correct about exports, which are the key to the success of the economy. It is important for Irish companies to be involved in that sector. There is a need to open markets abroad. I support the Senator's comments in that regard.
Senator Mark Daly has proposed an amendment to the Order of Business, "That No. 55, motion No. 8, be taken before No. 1." The Leader has indicated that he is prepared to accept the amendment. Is the amendment agreed to? Agreed.
Order of Business, as amended, agreed to.