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

Even if the 1,843 properties which were sold are taken out of the total, that still means that 50% of the total was not accepted by the local authorities. There is no way that NAMA offered 2,500 holiday homes to the local authorities. The Secretary General has said that he does not want the Department to issue missives or directives in terms of what the local authorities do. When I asked this question I was told that as part of the process the Housing Agency has been liaising and in direct contact with all the relevant local authorities to discuss the demand requirements, and that it was for the Housing Agency to co-ordinate the response to NAMA. It seems to me that is exactly what is happening here. The Secretary General has said that the Department is not issuing directives or missives, but the Housing Agency seems to be acting in a very controlling way, deciding the properties that were picked and were not picked. It is not the CEO of the local authorities deciding things here, but rather the Housing Agency. Mr. McCarthy used the phrase "an over-concentration of social housing". In the midst of a housing crisis, that is a terrible statement.