Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In 2017, when there was very clear housing need across the whole spectrum, local authorities were refusing units. I can understand the reasons they might but, as somebody who has people coming to his clinic every single day, they just seem like a luxury. That is a polite term. This seems like such a missed opportunity in that units that were available would have been availed of. I have constituents applying for what are called choice-based lettings, whereby they apply for units where there might be very significant criminal activity in the broader region. We cannot get people to take those houses from the main list and people are still applying for those choice-based lettings because they are so desperate to get housing. In my view, it was a flaw in the process that local authorities could effectively put a block on the purchase of units that often became available then to people other than those on the waiting list. Would Mr. Baneham agree with that?