Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the statements of the Chairman. I raised before the length of time it takes to refurbish houses for reletting. It is causing a serious problem. The allocation for the housing improvement grant in the Estimate is down 23%, which is quite substantial. That is possibly why the local authorities are not renovating the houses. The figure for the grants is down substantially also, by 36%. Adaptation grants for people with disabilities and the elderly are urgently needed but, unfortunately, there is a shortage in funding due to the economic realities we are experiencing. Does Minister of State or his officials look outside the box to determine whether there are initiatives or schemes that could help to try to take people off the live register? Only yesterday, we heard about the JobsPlus scheme, which allows private employers to take people off the live register. I urge the Minister of State to consider having local authorities engage with skilled craftsmen and apprentices who are unemployed to link them with existing housing staff with a view to refurbishing housing stock. The Minister of State said there is a budget for ensuring sustainability and improvements with regard to energy efficiency. That is another area. When considering upgrading houses to sustainable specifications and the provision of adaptation grants for the disabled, we should consider some initiative to employ unemployed craftsmen so as to make the best use of our funds. Rather than simply shutting down the schemes, we should be more inventive.

I ask the Minister of State to look at that area.

I understand some moves are being made to integrate the rental accommodation scheme into the local authorities to make it more efficient. Will the Minister of State comment on this? How does she see it developing and how it will benefit housing offices within local authorities in managing housing lists?