Michael Collins criticises government over housing scheme pause

First of all, I forgot to congratulate both Ministers on your appointment and your positions. I wish you well going forward and hopefully we can work close together. We should be able to work close together. I think this is the second or third time I spoke about housing today in the Dáil. It is a huge crisis, a huge issue. It does not matter if it is the young person looking for planning permission, that seems to be blocked at them. It does not matter if your local village or town is trying to grow, trying to bring people into their community. They cannot because of infrastructure being wrong. This is one of the schemes that the Government reopened, this housing scheme under pressure, but there is no failing to fund it properly. This is exploding with 15,000 people in emergency accommodation. Yet, the Government paused a scheme that keeps families housed. The housing crisis is turning into housing chaos, as more people are pushed out of their homes each year while the Government drags its feet. The tenant in situ scheme was working effectively, saving over 2,500 households. So why shut it down? This is about priorities, and the Government has got it all wrong. They can fine billings for overspending, but claim no funds for housing solutions. Landlords want certainty, not red tape, as overcomplicated rules discourage them from engaging with the scheme. Approved housing bodies, which can manage social housing well, are being locked out of the scheme. The Government is also failing rural tenants, with local councils in smaller towns needing this scheme, but being underfunded. We need a Minister for Housing who will act and not make excuses. The Minister must take responsibility and ensure adequate housing funding. The solution is simple. Fund it, fix it and stop playing politics. The Government needs to provide proper funding and allow the local council to act. The problem is, and that is why I have been talking all day here today, is that it is not just this problem alone. There are so many issues here that have not been tackled over the last number of years, and it has led to people, you know, people have been very angered and frustrated. My last two phone calls, and I know that is coincidental, except that we are on planning permission, for people, you know, concerned about their planning, worried about their planning, and getting negative vibes back from the planners. I have said that today, that actually it is the rule, planning guidelines need to be changed. The planners are not only just going through what is before them, they can't give planning where if the guideline tells them they can't give planning, but it is completely just negative vibe in relation to housing and homes or people that are desperate to get off, get a start in life, whether it is a new house or what. And you see, and you know, I don't know, I hope Deputy Brown knows it, but Deputy O'Sullivan, you do know and understand the situation that is going on in Dunmanway, going on in Shannon Vale, going on in Bella the Hub, Golean and Roscarry. Some of them are waiting, is it 27 years, to get their wastewater treatment plant done up in their area, so they can build. You were at a meeting with myself there recently, through Zoom I was, and you were there, in Dunmanway, in relation to the wastewater treatment plant there. They cannot build a house there, and there is no future, like 2020, maybe 30 or 2035-ish, or maybe 2040, we will be at workshops every day a week, well if I hear any, that old balaba coming out of them out. The bottom line is, the money isn't there, or the money isn't going there, and that is the problem with Dunmanway, and that is the problem with Shannon Vale, and that is the problem with Roscarry, and that is the problem with Golean, and that is the problem with Bella the Hub. Iskairn are walking away scot-free, and I have called continuously for the last, I think, five business meetings, and I will begin tomorrow morning at the business meeting, that we need time to discuss Iskairn and Irish water, basically, and the problems that exist in relation to Irish water, and the fact that there is no delivery of proper delivery services. And we have to, I think, I have another minute, I have four minutes in total, we have to really look into this matter, and see why isn't the funding being made available, why can't we look at a developer to deliver the wastewater treatment plant, seeing as Iskairn can't deliver the wastewater treatment plant. And Minister, I would love for you to get up and say, okay, you're dead right, we're not going to be able to do Dunmanway, Shannon Vale, Bella the Hub, Golean, and Roscarry in the next 12 months, but we can put a deadline as to when it's going to happen. So is it going to happen in 2030, 2040, 2050? Good God, these people deserve to know where they're going with their towns and villages. Well, raw sewage is pouring down into there, into Shannon Vale, into a local clay park there. It's astonishing, it's astonishing that the EPA are closing a blind eye, Iskairn are closing a blind eye, and the people are left there with no homes. So I can't go back to Dunmanway this weekend and tell them that maybe in 2032, or maybe in 2040, they're guaranteed that they will have a proper infrastructure put in their towns, so they can develop their town further. Right.