Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Might it be a better policy for the Minister to pursue the possibility of entering into negotiations with her colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, with a view to coming to some arrangement whereby some of the locked-up houses throughout the country at the present time be made available to local authorities to alleviate some of the burden, some €500 million per annum, for rent support?

It seems extraordinary that at a time when €500 million is being spent on rent support, there are some 80,000 houses locked up, incomplete or vacant in the private sector. At the same time, the general economic downturn is affecting people to a far greater extent than it would at any other time. Could the Minister tell us to what extent the funds made available in the supplementary budget have been eroded to date?

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