Land held by third-level colleges, the Eastern Health Board and CIE in the Dublin area should be used to provide affordable housing for working people, the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn, told a major trade union conference.
There was a housing crisis but the Government had not even prepared an inventory of this huge land bank to help working people, Mr Quinn said last night at the Dublin regional conference of SIPTU.
"Everyone knows that we need to build a competitive economy. But we also need to construct a compassionate environment. People work in the global marketplace, but they still live in their local community," he said.
No one needed to be told about the change in the market-place. "You are coping with it every day. However, the community that you live in must, as a basic minimum, provide affordable housing and accessible employment.
"It is failing on both fronts. Parents, who were sometimes the first in their own generation to own houses, look on in despair as their children cannot afford to buy their own home. We now have a housing emergency."
He said people did not need expensive luxury developments, but affordable homes. "There is a chronic need to rapidly release public and privately-owned serviced land on terms and conditions that will give priority to affordable housing. The Government's response has been miserly.
"This could be done. No inventory yet has been made of the publicly-owned land which is already serviced in the greater Dublin area. CIE, the health board and educational bodies have land which they do not currently need. It is serviced and available now.
"It can be and it must be released into the market-place, through new forms of public/private joint ventures. These will be designed to provide affordable housing for working people.
"The definition of a living wage is one which puts at least a roof over your head. Today we have a chronic shortage of roofs. Action is needed now. And it must be done without delay."
Turning to ways of making work more accessible, he said that women were now taking 58 out of every 100 new jobs, but many women were still unable to work for lack of a comprehensive childcare system.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, had shown her distaste for lone parents in the general election and was now doing so again, he said. People would not be fooled by her "new-found concern for low and middle-income earners." During last year's Budget the Tanaiste "and her friend", the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, had displayed their contempt for working people and social partnership.
He also criticised employers. Flexibility, productivity and wage restraint by workers had been key elements in the country's economic success, but far too often management had been slow to involve the workforce in the day-today management of companies.
SIPTU has 32,865 members working in private sector enterprises in its Dublin region, 605 fewer than in 1996. Today's session will discuss a confidential counselling service for victims of drug addiction and racism.