Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I am sure the Minister of State will agree it was a scandal that the previous Government oversaw an unprecedented property boom during which up to 90,000 houses were built annually but left a legacy of 50,000 people on local authority housing lists, which is an astonishing indictment of its performance. Can he assure the House that the Government will not oversee an equally great scandal with up to 300,000 empty houses in the State while 50,000 people are on the housing list and that he will aggressively move to resolve this terrible anomaly, which could result in people being on the list for nine or ten years?

Must we not aggressively attack this issue not only because of the obscenity of houses lying empty while people are on the housing list but also for sound financial reasons? If the 50,000 people on the housing list were housed, it would save the State approximately €500 million in rent allowance payments annually and it would probably generate €360 million for the Exchequer in rent. This would not even be fiscally neutral. We would benefit if we housed the 50,000 people on the list. While acknowledging the Minister of State's earlier comments, is there not a case for allocating suitable NAMA properties to social housing applicants and, where such properties are not suitable, to engage workers to construct social housing because that would create employment, provide housing and save the State money by generating a new revenue stream? It is a "no brainer" to do this. Does the Minister of State intend to move in that direction?

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