James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Mahon tribunal was one of the most damning verdicts on the State and its involvement in housing over the years and exposed a web of corruption in the building industry. I know a planning Bill relating to the Mahon tribunal has been on the clár of the Dáil for quite some time. Would it be beneficial if this planning Bill were brought forward and dealt with? It would be helpful to Mr. Skehan in his new role.

There is the fiasco of housing developments being pulled down, for example, Gleann Riada in my county of Longford. I am sure Mr. Skehan is aware of it. This estate was badly constructed and has cost this State a huge amount of money. Unfinished estates throughout the country are being refurbished, which is costing the State a fortune. I know NAMA is involved and has said it will purchase more than 2,000 properties for social housing, but it is important that people are vetted for those houses. Ordinary decent people have purchased houses in housing estates and some agencies responsible for housing have purchased houses alongside those houses and put in the wrong type of clientele, thus forcing out of those estates people who have paid a considerable price for their houses. This is a significant problem in some parts of the country and is something we do not want to see happen. Yesterday, I heard of a situation in County Westmeath where a young man on a kidney dialysis machine who bought a house and is paying back a huge mortgage was forced out of his home by thugs on either side of him. He had to rent private accommodation in another village. We do not want to see this type of carry-on continuing.

The vetting of people for social housing needs to be looked at because it is unfair on the ordinary decent person who purchased their house and is in dire straits paying back the mortgage. I know it is a small percentage of people who are causing havoc but this type of carry-on must be eliminated and I would like to see a new approach used in vetting people who are homeless. It is the same people, and it is only a few, who move into an estate and wreck their accommodation. At the stroke of a pen, officers within a local authority or agency move them on to another part of the country to create havoc in that area.