Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

I have heard the Minister's comments on his plans for any properties we get from NAMA in this regard but many people expect much from the NAMA properties. Addressing the social housing issue is a priority for me and my constituents. The social end to which the Minister referred goes to voluntary housing rather than social housing, which is one of the problems I have with the Minister's comments. With NAMA we could address many of the homelessness problems and try to reach our target date of 2013 for the elimination of long-term homelessness. Some of these properties could be used in that regard.

There is a way to deal with NAMA and we can enter into five-year contracts on properties, letting the local authorities handle the issue and buy them out over a period. We can get people on the housing lists into properties, which will provide money for the local authorities. We would also eliminate much of the €500 million per year we spend on rental subsidies. There would be much advantage if we used these properties for social housing.

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