Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will lash out a few questions. We are discussing social housing income limits. In recent years, people have been taken off lists for being over the limit. So that they might keep their times, will there be an exemption for people who went over the limit in the past year or two but who are now under the limit? I know of a person who was on a list for ten and a half years. He was to be allocated a house by Cork City Council, but it turned out he was over the limit. He, his wife and his family are devastated. Will the Minister consider this suggestion when examining the limits?

Local authorities are telling me off the record that one of the major reasons they cannot deliver more social and affordable housing is a lack of staff. There is a recruitment issue, but what more can the Minister do to get local authorities to take on more staff to build social housing? Everyone in local authorities with whom I speak is pointing to issues with staffing, particularly recruitment. Some of them are saying it in Leinster House and others are saying it to me personally. The vast majority of local authorities are not doing direct builds. I live in Gurranabraher in Cork, which was built 80 years ago by the old Cork Corporation. When discussing building houses, I am not talking about Cork County Council getting a developer to build a site for it. That is fine and I have no problem with it, but I am also referring to how local authorities need to take on builders, masons, engineers and so on. Each local authority should have a direct build section.

My final point is on the €337 million underspend. The Minister says it will be used, but we have local authorities that have virtually no staff to build houses. The Minister should be prioritising funding for that.