Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry, it is Mr. Murray. Are the criteria for financial underwriting for the Rebuilding Ireland loans uniform among local authorities? I have evidence they are not. I raised it with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and he said there is a review taking place to ensure that is happening. Can Mr. Murray advise the committee on the interaction with the Housing Agency vis-à-visthe loans? Is each loan application going to the agency for oversight if not approval?

I refer to the use of CPO powers, which all the witnesses alluded to it in their opening statements. It has been useful to get a picture from four local authorities outside Dublin and to consider the different housing issues throughout the country. The figures are different. In each of the opening statements the witnesses referred to purchasing units. Louth County Council has 84 completions, according to the latest figures, in acquiring vacant houses and bringing them back into use. That is a good performance and I commend the council on it. The council has been put forward as an example of how this can be done. There have been no completions in Galway city. That is also the case in Kerry County Council and Limerick. This is since 2011 and under the CPO powers. That information was received under a freedom of information request I made. I note that the witnesses spoke in their opening statements about acquiring buildings, but the information I received from the Department states that Louth is miles ahead of other councils. Is there an issue with using the CPO powers? Do local authorities not want to use them? The Minister has said on a number of occasions that the threat of the use of CPO might be enough.

I acknowledge the success Louth has had in bringing vacant units into use. Galway City Council has identified approximately 500 derelict or unused buildings:

...the council prepared a vacant home strategy which is currently being implemented. The initial estimates put the number of vacant homes in the city at circa500.

However, the council has completed no CPO since 2011. Why is that? What other strategies is the council using? I am seeking the council's feedback on that; it is not a criticism. I want to get under the bonnet to see what the issue is.

The discretionary cap has been referred to in the single stage process that Mr. McGuinness has used. What impact will the increase in that cap to €6 million have when it is introduced in January with regard to giving councils control over delivering smaller social housing schemes? The increase was agreed in the last budget.

I was interested to hear Mr. McGrath speak about the HAP homeless placefinder service in Galway. Does each local authority have that service? One of the issues our party is considering is people presenting as homeless after the fact. In some local authorities - I do not know if this happens in the ones represented by the witnesses - people are told to come back when the tenancy has ceased. If people come to the local authorities represented here and they know they are going to be evicted or their lease expires in 60 or 80 days, what is the process in the local authority? Will Mr. McGrath speak in more detail about the placefinder service with which the council has had some success?

I will conclude with a question on HAP. Do the councils represented here remove their HAP clients from the main housing list and put them on the transfer list? Some local authorities have stopped doing that. What are the witnesses' views on it? It is not a policy question. I am asking it from an operational perspective. I disagree with it. HAP tenants should stay on the main housing list where there is proper oversight. Do the witnesses remove somebody who is placed in a HAP tenancy from the housing list? My main criticism of Rebuilding Ireland is the overdependence on the private rental sector and particularly HAP. More than 50% of our targets are to be met by people being deemed housed when their need is met by entering into what is mainly a short-term lease. My party's view of that is that their housing need has not been met.