Madam, - From Booterstown to the edge of Bray, there is rarely a household to which I call to during my constituency canvass where the issue of affordable housing is not raised.
While the Government has tried valiantly to deal with this issue, including writing commitments into the Partnership Agreement, it is obvious that something more radical is required.
James Pike (June 27th) points to work done by the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution in 2004 which recommends a return to the Kenny Report of the 1970s. The principal recommendation of that report was that land required by a local authority would be purchased at existing use value plus 25 per cent. Land costs contribute enormously to housing prices.
In my county of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, we know all about it. The council has a very limited land bank. When land is sold, it attracts such high prices that very few houses, particularly for families, are available for less than €800,000. We are in danger of becoming a community where young families are being excluded by the cost of housing. This is unsustainable.
It is difficult to mount a credible defence of Government policy on the doorsteps when there is an obvious start that can be made. The Government should dust down the Kenny Report, prepare legislation and focus on an issue of real import to its citizens.
No wonder Fianna Fáil backbenchers are frustrated. Oireachtas committees are where backbenchers do good work. But unless the recommendations and work of these committees is taken seriously, frustrations will continue to fester and housing will stay beyond the means of many young people. - Yours, etc,
FIONA O'MALLEY TD, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.