Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Nothing I have heard has convinced me the thousands of homeless families would be happy about these houses not going into local authority ownership. I am not here to criticise and I do not make judgments but I am deeply concerned about this. I stress again I am not being personal in this regard but at its core, the need of people who are homeless or in housing is greater than any other issue.

The other point I wish to make is those houses were built and while it was necessary to have work done to some of them, it would be far cheaper to be in those homes today than to construct ab initio, that is, from the beginning. Moreover, most families living in those homes at present are in receipt of rent allowance or housing assistance payments whereas they could be paying rent to the council and would be in their permanent homes as opposed to waiting, as may be, for a long time.

Finally, given all the expertise in the local authorities and the Department, they should all get together as a one-stop shop and agree to look after the greater Dublin area for housing. They should put all their resources into it and should second their experts to it and then should let them proceed. Other than that, there merely will be disparate actions and a lack of policy clarity or certainly not the same policy everywhere, as well as a lack of the drive and energy that must be put into this problem.