Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

Picking up on that point, I am a proud Galwegian and Galway is a disaster with regard to empty properties owned by the local authority. I spent 17 years as a local councillor and I followed this up. In my area alone there are two houses that have been vacant for longer than five years. I can think of an estate that has been empty for 15 years and I can see absolutely no reason for it. I will not waste my time. I am highlighting it and telling the witnesses about it. I have no idea why this is happening. These properties have not been vacant for one or two years. Somebody dies and then the house is left empty for more than five years. It is there and we have highlighted this point over and over.

I will make one or two general points and then ask very specific questions. It is no reflection on the witnesses, but it is very difficult to be here as, for me, the policies the Government is pursuing which the Department has to implement are simply not working. People in Galway are waiting for somewhere between 15 and 20 years for a house. I will take the opportunity to put it on the record. We have missed all of our targets. We have so many entities and schemes now that it is impossible to keep up with them. I tried to count the schemes and I cannot keep up with them.

One simple part of the solution is to resource the local authorities and allow public housing to be built on public land, full stop. That is an essential part of the solution. I feel there is an absolute snobbery or something else preventing that. Public housing has to be seen for what it is. The Housing Commission has set a target for the Department, or not the Department, for us, of 20% or thereabouts as essential. Will Mr. Doyle comment on that? He might not have time to do so. I just despair over and over.