Michael Mulcahy (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

Housing is one of the most important things that any Government or local authority can provide. On this occasion, it is appropriate to focus on the housing issue. I was privileged to be a member of Dublin City Council for 17 years, from 1985 to 2002. For all of that period I was on the council's housing committee. I have a deep commitment to all types of social and affordable housing. I remember the days when the manager would come in to the housing construction committee with proposals for building hundreds of houses. I am sure other Members who were on local authorities will attest to this. At that time, the council had many large sites and was still in the business of building, particularly in the Tallaght area. There is no doubt that the days of any local authority — certainly Dublin City Council, with which I am very familiar — building large numbers of houses seem to be at an end. There may be different reasons for that. In my constituency, some 107 such houses were built a few years ago but the management turned out to be so poor they were not able to manage them.

We must be fair in addressing this matter. There is a serious housing situation in Dublin city at present.

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