We have just watched - some of us in total frustration - the fundamentally flawed Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014 being passed by the House. The Bill which contains major flaws is not the problem. The greatest flaw of all is the lack of a coherent housing strategy to take account of the bigger picture and focus on the economic and social consequences of how we plan and deliver housing in all its forms. Let us consider what we are doing. Spending on the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, rent supplement and long-term leasing is going to amount to somewhere in the region of €400 million a year. If a similar amount is spent - there is no reason to believe this will not be the case - in each of the next ten years, the total amount involved is going to be €4 billion. In essence, that money is going to end up in the pockets of landlords. I accept that there is a short-term need, but what is being done will not result in good value for taxpayers and it is not good social policy.

Officials from the lead local authority charged with piloting the new HAP scheme came before the relevant committee of the Oireachtas and stated "once households are supported by HAP they will be considered to have their housing needs met and will be removed from the housing waiting list." They went on to state, "At the end of December 2013 there were approximately 80,000 on rent supplement. Of these, 50,000 are long term RS [rent supplement] recipients that will migrate to HAP ... As they transfer to HAP, waiting lists will be reduced by 50,000." What is being done is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. It involves massaging figures, rather than delivering real homes. It is clear that we need a housing strategy which is integrated with the public policies that obtain in areas such as transportation, finance and education. Such a strategy will not come about by accident. As a result of the outsourcing of responsibility to the markets and a return to a developer-led approach, we are moving back to the model which led to the economic crash.

Does the Minister accept that a housing strategy must be at the core of our efforts to rebuild Ireland? Does he also accept that we must not replicate the boom and bust scenario which obtained in the construction sector in the past? Does he further accept that the HAP scheme will lead to housing list figures being superficially manipulated and prevent a transparent analysis of the real scale of social housing need?

I share the Deputy's concern about the housing issue. It has, in part, been aggravated by the collapse of the economy and the decimation of the construction industry caused by the previous Administration. At the height of the boom, some 25% of economic activity was related to construction. A more appropriate figure in that regard would have been between 10% and 12%. As the Deputy is aware, the level actually fell below 5% at one point, from which we are now trying to recover. An additional problem arises in the context of persons who cannot afford to pay the market rate for houses. The Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is attempting to develop and improve the current response to the very grave crisis in housing provision.

No one will benefit from a short-term or short-sighted approach to this problem. We need a coherent and multifaceted plan that will encompass several Departments. There are people in third level institutions such as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, NUIM, and the Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, who are doing excellent work on this matter and have written widely on it. Essentially, it seems that we are employing a piecemeal approach to what will continue to be a crisis, unless we develop a vision and a plan for the future. There is no one working in one in four households and we have an army of people who could be described as being working poor. Purchasing houses is not going to be an option for many of them. Given his political and professional background, I ask the Minister to see to it that the Government draws on the expertise to which I refer in order that we might develop a multifaceted model for the housing and construction sectors that will include an input from the necessary Departments. We should discontinue the piecemeal approach which obtains and which is going to give rise to further difficulties, including a number of significant social problems.

I agree with much of what the Deputy says, particularly in the context of the need to develop a long-term strategy for housing. It is clear that Part V - as an option to replace traditional local authority housing provision with social housing - has not worked for a host of reasons. Local authorities no longer possess the expertise required to allow them to provide housing and the budget in this regard is far less than what is required. There is no doubt that a new and integrated approach is required. The Bill the House has just passed is a partial response to the problem. It is not intended to be a comprehensive response. I will bring the Deputy's remarks to the attention of the relevant Minister and the Cabinet.