Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will start on the point Deputy Ó Broin finished with. Ms Doherty's submission includes the following very significant comment: "Cork City Council also urges Government to address in appropriate circumstances underutilised private lands, even if this requires a re-examination of the protections currently afforded to private property in the Constitution." That is a significant statement from the chief executive officer of one of the largest local authorities in the country. I would certainly draw attention to it and I support that statement.

I will not do the big block of talk as I am looking for a bit of back and forth. I will start with social and affordable housing need and use Cork city as an example. I will pose my questions to Ms Doherty and Mr. Geaney. The first is about length of time on social housing waiting lists. We hear a lot about the numbers on social housing waiting lists but we do not often discuss the length of time. When I throw open the doors of my clinic on a Monday afternoon, I have people coming in to me who have been on the housing list for seven, eight, nine, ten, 11 and 12 years. Are the witnesses in a position to give even an approximate profile of the position with the current social housing waiting list in Cork? For example, how many people have been on the list for more than five years or more than eight years? It seems to be backing up.

On the question of getting a picture of affordability, the Cork City Council CEO will know I have had dealings in recent times with the firefighters in the city. We had a controversy there, and that is fine. In the conversations I held with firefighters, one of the things that struck me was that very few of them live in the city and the journey time they have in the morning or afternoon to come in to work their shift. Why is this? It is because they cannot afford housing in the city as prices are too high. Here we have a group of workers who, I imagine, are at least on the average industrial wage, if not a little more.

I hope I am not wrong about that but firefighters will soon let me know if I am. I believe the same applies to nurses, teachers and so on. Workers on average wages cannot afford to buy in the city. Is that exceptional or part of the general picture? If the former is the case, will the witnesses comment on it? I will make my some further points later on social and affordable housing.