Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the parameters referenced by Mr. McDonagh. The situation is ridiculous. Local authorities have thousands of people on housing waiting lists. As Deputy Connolly said, some have been on the waiting list in Galway for 16 years, while others in my county have been on the list there for ten or 12 years. In spite of that, local authorities are talking about parameters. I delved into this issue at a meeting of a housing strategic policy committee in Meath last week. We do not have any public land on which to build social homes. When the Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government appeared before the committee, he was not prepared to address land acquisition programmes. In spite of all that, there was only a 40% take-up of the completed units being offered by NAMA through the Housing Agency, which is a scandal. The approach of our local authorities to this issue during the housing crisis is scandalous.

In terms of the process, Mr. McDonagh stated that NAMA went through the Housing Agency. Did the Housing Agency then go directly to the CEOs of the 31 local authorities or did it go through the Custom House?