6^th May 2004

PRESS RELEASE

Greens attack Government for failing to stem soaring house prices

The Green Party launched proposals for tackling affordability in the housing market today with a stinging attack on the Government  for failing to tackle soaring house prices.   The Party believes that effective Government intervention in the market has not occurred because the main political parties, which have been in power for the last decade,  receive substantial funding from the powerful development and construction lobby.

The Green Party proposals include enshrining housing as a basic right in law,  establishing a National Housing Authority,  restoring the Part V provisions for social housing back into the Planning and Development Act 2000,  providing 10,000 social housing units per year until waiting lists are cleared, giving Local Authorities the right to compulsorily purchase development land prior to rezoning and  reducing stamp duty on all house purchases.

Launching the proposals today the Green Party's Housing spokesperson, Ciarán Cuffe TD, said  "The Government has sat back and watched developers increase their profits. Meanwhile an entire generation are unable to afford housing because of the Governments unwillingness to intervene, other than accepting corporate donations from builders and speculators.”

"Apart from changing the law to allow local authorities to acquire land for housing at existing use value plus 25%, we also want all new homes to have an energy rating from A to E. We provide them for fridges, why not do the same for housing?"

"Controls over lending are also required, banks must be regulated to ensure that they don't continue contributing to the rise in house prices. We would gradually reduce the multiple of salaries that banks would be allowed lend over a five year period."

"Proper planning is also necessary. Instead of fueling urban sprawl local authorities must provide well-designed mixed use developments close to public transport. This can reduce commuting times and improve the quality of peoples' lives."

Cllr. Mary White,  Deputy Leader and Euro candidate for East ,said,  that the unsustainable building boom in Kildare and Meath has led to increased commuting and has eroded the quality of life for many who seek to live in the commuter belt close to Dublin.  Spiralling house prices in Dublin and poor planning with even poorer infrastructure has led to a quarter of the housing stock in Kildare and Meath being built in a short six year period, from 1996 to 2002.”  

“The National Spatial Strategy has been ignored and proper planning and sustainable development have been shelved as developer-led estates have driven harassed couples to spend more time in their cars than with their families”. 

“This concentration of population in Leinster cannot be allowed to continue, particularly as it is preventing other parts of the country, in particular the eight ‘gateways’ and nine ‘hubs’ identified in the National Spatial Strategy from developing the critical mass of population necessary to attract investment and development.”

Cllr. Deirdre de Burca said that  “the pressure for one-off rural housing has become more acute during the last decade because of the rapid escalation in house prices. The Green Party believes that the best way to maintain and increase population numbers  in rural areas is to create new villages or village clusters and to actively prevent further dispersal of settlement.”

Finance spokesperson, Dan Boyle TD,  said that “the danger of government policy on housing is that it seems to be less about meeting the accommodation needs of our citizens, than helping the acquisition of housing as a means of generating wealth through speculation”.  “The money foregone in taxes through many unnecessary tax allowances would be better spent on the direct building of housing, particularly social housing, on which this government seems to have an ideological hang up.

Information

Ciarán Cuffe TD                       01 618 3082  / 087 265 2075

Cllr.  Mary White                   087 270 7189

Cllr. Deirdre de Burca            086 806 145