Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue.

It is an issue concerning a voluntary housing association in Kildare that could have wider implications for others across the country. While I have no evidence to suggest anything untoward has happened, I am a little uneasy with a recent discussion with the local authority in respect of this association and similar housing associations.

Voluntary housing associations are financially supported by the State under the capital allowance programme with free sites made available to them. After completion of the estate, the association is required to establish a company to run the association, have an AGM, publish an annual report and liaise with its tenants regularly. Up to 10,000 houses are held under such schemes.

In the scheme in question, several tenants have become uneasy. In the beginning everything went to plan with all instructions carried out in accordance with the rules and articles of association. In the meantime a reluctance seems to have emerged on the part of the company to meet with the tenants and the local authority. I have insisted on such a meeting and called for an audit to be carried out on the association's activities to protect the Department, the local authority, the company and the tenants.

Will the Minister of State arrange for the association in question to meet with the relevant officials in the local authority and the tenants to address various questions that have emerged? These include the possibility of an audit of the association's activities in the past seven years, when it last held an AGM, whether it has responded to tenants properly, whether it has reviewed rents annually and maintained the properties to the required level. While I accept all of these may have been already addressed, it must be remembered that as associations receive funding from the Exchequer, it is incumbent on them to be transparent in answering such questions.

There are arrears in the case of some tenants which one would expect if there were no rent reviews in the good times and then unanticipated rent increases in the downturn. I hope the Minister of State will be able to get the association to address the tenants' concerns and ensure the sector does not fall into disrepute when there is a reluctance to give information when requested.

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