Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his comments. There are a number of reasons for delays in delivering projects. One is the planning process and another is site selection. There needs to be a commitment from all sides to make it happen as well as a conversation with all the various stakeholders about the realistic possibilities on a specific site and what is possible on a particular site.

The Senator mentioned that there are vacant properties. There can be different reasons that. We might not want to use a property or it might have been offered and it was refused for accommodation purposes, which happens with all social housing projects. In other cases, it relates to the management of the site, estate or accommodation in question. Rather than walk away from some of these problems because they are difficult to solve, we need to get around the table and solve them. From what I can see, in some cases due to the fact that everyone is very busy, they get put to one side for a while and suddenly that period becomes a year and then two years. We need bring focus to this issue through this committee, the expert group and the work of the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee, NTACC, and track progress.

The Senator is correct regarding the need for an analysis of Part VIII proposals. We do a good deal of work on that in the Department. I can get the Senator a report on that. We track those proposals. I was asked by colleagues earlier what we are doing to make these happen while we are waiting for a new report. Part of that involves tracking some proposals that have been allocated money, granted planning permission and that have gone through the Part VIII process. We do that. I will get the Senator a report on that.

Like the Senator, I have seen plenty of projects that have worked extremely well and there has been a great acceptance of the various estates and projects by communities. That generally happens when they are well designed, built and maintained and everybody agrees to look after their area and then does so. With many social housing projects, regardless of whether they are Traveller-specific, there are difficulties with the planning process and with them being accepted by some communities. That applies to social housing projects across the board. Often we try to be upfront with members in explaining the reasons for delays on certain sites for rapid build housing. It can sometimes be down to a difficulty with planning and in getting a project accepted by a community. That is something we are working on to see if we can improve that process and bring more planning gain to it.

As the Senator said, a playground is a great example of a project that worked very well. That is a planning gain. That is the type of project we are looking at. It comes down to putting in place the right resources and the right team of people. Without doubt, the management and maintenance of accommodation and maintaining it to a high standard and quality for all the right reasons makes all these projects much more acceptable and we should also be able to get them through the system much more quickly. I will come back to the Senator with an analysis of the Part VIII proposals.

Neither I nor the Minister, Deputy Murphy or any of those in my Department are happy with vacant properties not being used, regardless of the social housing projects for which they were built. They should be utilised. We have made almost €150 million available in recent years to bring voids back into use. Most long-term voids have been dealt with, although there are still some short-term ones, and that includes Traveller-specific accommodation. It is not acceptable that accommodation that is available and ready for use lies empty. I cannot be any clearer than that. We have been very clear in sending out that message. Generally, local authority managers and teams accept that also and they have worked hard to bring many properties back into use. We have brought more than 7,000 voids that had been lying idle for a number of years back into the system. That is progress. It is not often talked about but it is good progress. We had voids in the first instance because of a lack of resources but we cannot let that happen again. We have made it clear to the local authorities that we must have a high level of maintenance to keep these properties in use all the time and to have a quick turnaround in their use. I understand the Senator's point, namely, that in certain areas specific accommodation can lie idle for other reasons as well, but that needs to be dealt with and not merely put to one side.