Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To return to my original question regarding the gap between the real social housing need and the targets in terms of the increase in real stock, the problem is that in each of the four local authorities represented, the gap is very stark. For example, in Galway, the gap between the additions to the stock over the lifetime of Rebuilding Ireland and the real level of need is about 65%; in Louth, it is 74%; in Kerry, it is 59%; and in Limerick, it is 71%. Given the fact that a number of the representatives have said that private sector activity is very slow, if so much of social housing need is to be met outside of local authorities' approved housing bodies' builds and acquisitions, and if the private sector is not building, they will not be able to meet the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, targets. Leaving aside the fact that HAP and RAS provide security for two or four years, and therefore are not necessarily in the best interests of tenant or good development of communities, that gap is massive. It is very worrying. I acknowledge the representatives have to work within the existing policy and that the targets are set not on the basis of what they would like to do but by the Department. The gap is very big and that will create some difficulties.

In terms of the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, the product is very good but the figures as of September for the four local authorities are troubling. For example, Galway city and county councils sent 83 loan applications to the Housing Agency for underwriting, 22 were recommended and as of September zero have been drawn down. In the case of Louth County Council, 50 loan applications were sent to the Housing Agency, 19 were recommended for approval and only five have been drawn down. In the case of Kerry County Council, 60 loan applications were sent to the Housing Agency for approval, 26 were recommended and zero have been drawn down. In the case of Limerick, the respective figures are 46 loan applications, 28 were recommended and zero have been drawn down. I acknowledge it is only the first three quarters of the scheme and that does not give us a full indication but clearly there is a problem. Is it that the period between the date of application and the date of final approval is longer than is necessary for the person meant to be able to purchase his or her home? Is it that the amounts being offered are less than what the applicants need to purchase their home? This is not a critical comment of the local authorities or the Housing Agency but clearly the draw downs indicate there is a problem. Those figures I gave for the local authorities sending loan applications to the Housing Agency represent approximately half of the number of applications received. Half of the applications made, on average, are not sent to the Housing Agency. I would be interested to hear the representatives views on that matter.

On the issue of Traveller accommodation and taking account of the budgets for last year and this year, Limerick had a significant overspend in its Traveller accommodation budget last year but as of half way through this year it is way behind the completion of the full spend this year. Louth did not have an allocation for or a spend on Traveller accommodation last year but it is significantly behind its allocation for this year. Kerry spent roughly what it was allocated for Traveller accommodation last year but as of half way through this year it has not spent any of the allocation. In Galway City Council there was a dramatic underspend on Traveller accommodation last year; there was no spend on it in the Galway County Council despite a significant allocation and as of half way through this year the county council had not drawn anything down and the city council had drawn down a fraction of the €1 million or so that was allocated. My specific question is whether the representatives envisage their local authorities will spend all the money that was allocated this year and whether those that underspent last year will carry that over. One of the major concerns of this committee is that year on year there are very significant underspends. While I live in the real world and there is a large Traveller community in my constituency, I understand the complexities involved. We are due to have Revised Estimates next week. There has been a significant overspend in social housing and we had a significant overspend in social housing last year. That is very welcome but there was a significant underspend on Traveller accommodation over the last three years, which is very troubling.