David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I congratulate the Labour Party on bringing forward this important motion tonight. So far the quality of the debate has been excellent. This is an important issue that impinges on more and more people every day. The Minister in his speech acknowledged that the number on rent supplement has doubled in ten years from 32,000 in 1995 to 60,000 in 2005. That shows how important the issue is and the demands on people in the system who depend on rent supplement, which is supposed to be an emergency payment.

The new rental accommodation scheme is interesting. It was hoped that by the end of the last year there would be 5,000 on it but at present there are only 700 on it. The Department gave out €19 million last year and will do the same this year. Has the Government estimated the total cost of this scheme? Will it cost the same as rent supplement, which is running at €400 million per annum?

The Minister mentioned long-term housing, which is a basic social need. The current scheme is temporary and this is more permanent, but I still feel people who are renting have a problem looking at that property as a home for a lifetime. The quality of housing provided by housing associations and the way they are managed are impressive. People can make their homes in such housing.

Has the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with responsibility for housing asked the local authorities how many empty houses they have on their books and has he asked them to make them available? There are two housing officers to cover the whole of County Cork and it takes them between six and nine months to visit each town and carry out an assessment. People must wait for the county council to carry out an assessment. They are working hard but there is a fault in the system.

Many local authority housing estates need to be upgraded and managed. The Minister has said on a number of occasions that local authorities can do what they like and that people should talk to local councillors. Local authorities, however, are not accountable to anyone. Since the dual mandate was abolished, local authorities do not have to answer our questions. Members of this House can ask a Minister a question and he is therefore democratically accountable but that is not the case in local authorities. We must address this because we are so dependent on what happens locally. Councillors cannot demand accountability in the same way we can.

Many housing estates are being built for rental purposes. The Government is pumping money into various types of rental systems and it is unsustainable in the long term. We need more infrastructure, schools and community halls in these estates.

Older, single people face difficulties on housing lists. In most local authorities there is no list, people are assessed according to need and then matched with what is available. There are criteria, such as overcrowding and the state of current accommodation, but older, single people are often at the bottom of that list. I have come across older, single women lately who need accommodation in sheltered housing of some type.

I congratulate the Labour Party on this motion. As the Ministers have acknowledged, this issue is growing in importance. The mechanisms in place are not the way to go on a long-term basis. If all the rent supplement houses end up on the new scheme, how much will it cost?

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