People need homes, not promises

ALMOST a year has passed since Taoiseach Bertie Ahern unveiled his radical plan to build 10,000 affordable houses for low and middle-income workers but the stark reality is that so far not a single unit has got off the ground.

It is a scenario that is symptomatic of an administration with a deplorable track record for making promises to suit its own political ends but seldom come to fruition. As it transpired, Mr Ahern's offer was critical to securing workers' acceptance of the new Sustaining Progress pay deal.

Not surprisingly, the unions saw this as an ideal way of securing badly needed houses for middle-income workers who were priced out of the market as property costs went through the roof.

But sceptics fear Mr Ahern's pledge could be consigned to the Coalition's overflowing dustbin of broken promises.

Smacking of the kind of stroke people have come to expect of Fianna Fáil a charge Mr Ahern will doubtless deny the ploy was aired just when negotiations for a national wage pact looked set to collapse.

In the event, the unions were happy to endorse Mr Ahern's generosity, perhaps naively so as it now seems.

At the time, the Taoiseach gave a firm assurance that 309 acres of State land in Dublin, Meath and Kildare had been allocated for the new scheme under which middle-income workers could buy their homes at cost price.

But despite the fact that house prices have continued to rise, particularly hitting first-time buyers who are forking out over 200,000 for a home, not a brick has materialised and not a site has been made ready. Not one of the 10,000 "affordable" houses conjured so adroitly by Mr Ahern has yet to be seen.

For thousands of house hunters hoping against hope of getting a home they can afford, there will be no early reprieve.

Before building starts, it would take at least 18 months to acquire land and go through the planning process. Logistically, a series of projects on this scale would take well over a year. By the most optimistic forecast it would be 2007 before people moved into their new homes.

Accusing the Government of a cruelly cynical tactic, Fine Gael says the Coalition knew the target was not achievable within the lifetime of the pay deal. And Labour urges the Government to fast-track the scheme through the planning process, changing the law if need be.

Neither the opposition nor the unions will be assuaged by Environment Minister Martin Cullen's insistence that Government is set on making measurable progress before the 2004 mid-term review of the pay deal comes around.

Meanwhile, a question mark is still hanging over the Government's commitment to the 20% provision for social and affordable housing which is so unpopular with builders and developers, who rank among Fianna Fáil's biggest financial contributors.

To be realistic, while the July release of State-owned sites in Dublin, Meath and Kildare was a critical step towards ensuring delivery of affordable housing, no start-up deadline has yet been set for the project.

And though a review of local authority sites is underway to see if more State land could be released for housing, the outcome remains uncertain.

With demand for housing growing by the day, house hunters are fed up of vague political promises which are no substitute for bricks and mortar.