Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Good. There were 4,720 households, not people, on the waiting list. That means that somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 people are on the waiting list for a home in Galway city. To give a very practical example of that, I know one particular applicant who is waiting since 2002. In that space of time - 15 years - the city council has never been in a position to offer him a house. I have the up-to-date figures for empty houses for Galway. There are 40 empty houses. With the exception of specific Traveller accommodation, which I will come back to, no reason has been given why three-bedroom, two-bedroom and one-bedroom units are empty.

The Department has come back to us with facts. It has said that units are turned over very quickly and that empty units are a tiny percentage of the total. I acknowledge that the 40 houses are a tiny percentage of the more than 2,000 houses owned by the council in Galway city. Nevertheless, the perception associated with homes being empty is very bad. Will Mr. McCarthy explain why these houses are not turned over in a matter of weeks? They are deemed to be suitable for people to live in, but when residents die or move on, they are suddenly deemed to be unsuitable for allocation. That is my first question. My second question relates to the housing allocation payment. Mr. McCarthy has given a breakdown of the 13,000 figure. Can he confirm that this payment is really the only game in town for the provision of what he has been calling social housing? I do not blame him for using that term because it is Government policy to do so. Is it the case that the housing assistance payment scheme is really the only game in town?