Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 25 October 2018

Public Accounts Committee

2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency

9:00 am

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

To put the matter in perspective, I checked the figures for Galway. A total of 239 people are homeless and while there are 154 in the west. Those figures do not cover people living in cars, staying with friends and living in refuges or direct provision. I am from a city that did not build a single local authority house in the period from 2009. I am just providing the context. It was inevitable that there would be a major housing crisis. I think we have now built 14 houses and I am not sure if they are even available. That is the length of time it has taken. We received quarterly reports to which I will refer. We bought land at astronomical prices partly under the land aggregation scheme to which I will return. We received quarterly reports. From 2010, our housing programme was laid out. The final column contained the word "suspended". There was no construction. Today, I looked at the empty properties in Galway as of the end of August. A total of 60 houses were empty. I can tell Mr. McCarthy that I am most unhappy with the oversight of the Department with regard to these houses. As the crisis intensifies, less information comes out. We were told when the houses became vacant in these quarterly reports. This significant piece of information is now gone. Reasons why they are empty include "pre-tenancy works completed", "under consideration" and "under offer". I do not know the difference between the latter two. Other reasons include under offer or offer accepted pending allocation. A total of 60 houses are empty, most of which are in the middle of the city or very near the outskirts. That is the background to my questions.

I thank Mr. John McCarthy for all of the information, which has been very helpful in clarifying matters. There are 547 voluntary bodies, the Department, the Housing Agency, the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency, which does not come under the committee's remit. A new agency is about to be set up to lend because the banks are not lending. In the midst of this, we have the most significant housing crisis, which I am glad Mr. John McCarthy has acknowledged. I acknowledge that 95% of the 547 voluntary bodies come under a small group. What did the Department do about regulation? Why has it taken up until now to talk about it? How has this sector remained unregulated for so long?

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