Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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-----provided they get planning permission. We all know about the general restrictions in that regard. They are telling me that they do not have money. With regard to vacant houses, local authorities are telling me they do not have the money to do up the really bad ones and that they must get money from the State to do so. Deputy Catherine Murphy or Deputy Barry Cowen raised the question of whether we need to do this through legislation or whether we need the Minister of State to tell the local authorities to use the money. We can look at doing this by regulation, by direction or by a circular but I share the view that, if money is available, it should be used for the provision of housing. There is already legislation in place to address the specific issue and the amendments. If I can use some other method of ensuring that available money is used, I will do so. Deputy Catherine Murphy said there was a lot of money in the past but I suspect there is not much money at the moment. If they have money, I would want it to be used for the provision of housing.