Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I have concerns about the provisions as outlined by the Minister of State because they will play into the hands of many, if not all, of the county managers. My impression is that county managers wish to offload their responsibilities in respect of housing in so far as is possible. They are attempting to off-load as much responsibility as possible onto voluntary housing agencies and this appears to be another method for so doing. A mechanism will exist whereby management of housing can be dealt with by a management company, thereby absolving the councils of responsibility. Many voluntary housing agencies do good work and I do not condemn them, although I have a bigger problem with management companies. However, an issue arises in this regard pertaining to accountability.

The best type of social housing is that which is directly built, provided, allocated and managed by county councils. While I agree with the point about the need for integrated development, we have many successful council housing estates. In the past the proportionate provision of council housing estates was much higher. While only approximately 5% of what is built at present is council housing, the figure used to be up to 30%. I am thinking of locations that have turned out excellently in Crumlin, Drimnagh, Lucan and so on. These were old council estates that were directly managed and provided by the council that were occupied by working people, many of whom went on to buy their houses.

I am worried about these proposals. The management of South Dublin County Council——

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