Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I thank the Minister and Minister of State for their overview which sets the scale of the challenge that faces them. I have a couple of questions about the housing area. The first point to which the Minister referred is that of the transfer of the rent allowance to local authorities. Does the Minister agree that we have major problems in store unless local authorities have additional staff, albeit from their own resources, to work in the housing departments who are trained to deal with this activity? We must accept that not all local authorities have given housing the priority it deserves in the past. If they had, we would not have the scale of housing problems we have today.

Reference was also made to RAS and long-term leasing as being the emergency initiative to deal with the growing waiting lists. That is fair enough under the circumstances but what is the long-term vision on RAS and long-term leasing? I am minded of what is happening now with shared ownership loans. There was a time when we encouraged people to move away from the old annuity loans into shared ownership. We now find that people at an advanced stage in local authority shared ownership loans are carrying a very substantial burden. A small shift in the housing market will cause significant difficulties as far as RAS and long-term leasing is concerned.

In regard to vacant dwellings, in recent years if one met people involved in local government they would tell one about the number of vacant units in their respective areas. Only recently did I discover why that is happening. I suggest that it is because of the improvement works programme because the houses have to be vacant for a period of six months before they can attract funding. What is happening is that local authorities are leaving houses vacant for six months and they are falling into greater disrepair and they are then drawing money from the Department, which should be drawn the minute the vacancy arises. Will the Minister revisit the issue?

In terms of the scheme of works for the elderly and housing adaptation grants, there seems to be a fear in the Department that someone who is not entitled to them will get those grants. They are of invaluable use to the elderly, disabled people and those who are vulnerable across the country. If the Minister is worried about the grants, rather than cutting back on them would he consider doing something similar to what is being done in respect of the fair deal scheme, namely, registering a charge against the property for a period should the property be disposed of and should one be afraid of people profiteering?

Approximately 25,000 units are managed or owned by the voluntary housing sector. It is doing a good job but I do not believe it should be allowed to build empires. People who live in the mainstream family, non-specialised housing units who have come off local authority waiting lists and have had houses provided for them that are 100% capital funded by the Department in the same way that local authorities have been funded should be able to buy their houses. Will the Minister introduce a tenant purchase scheme for the voluntary sector and ring-fence the funding for the provision of other social housing?