Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue. I can assure the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, that there are no constituents of mine in the Visitors Gallery and as such I will not be playing to the gallery when speaking on this issue.

I am concerned at the current housing situation in the city, in particular the local authority housing units which remain vacant owing to a lack of funding for maintenance crews. I currently have 100 files on my desk, and many more in the filing cabinets in my office, in respect of people on the city council housing list, many of whom have medical or welfare priority but have remained on the housing list for years. Many people with medical priority have been told it will be two years or more before they can be accommodated. They have been told there are no units available, yet in Dublin South-Central, which I represent, there are currently 190 units-voids, 107 of which are in need of short term repair, 21 of which are new properties and 62 of which are voids requiring long-term repair. There are 48 units in Kilmainham, where I live there, 85 in the south-west inner city, 26 in Crumlin and 30 in Ballyfermot. There are plenty of units available.

I welcome what is happening in St. Theresa's Gardens and Dolphin House in terms of regeneration and compliment the Minister of State in terms of her work on putting together a package to improve many of the units in Dolphin House, some of which are not habitable. Many of the aforementioned units are empty because the city council's budget is limited and it does not have the manpower or funding necessary to carry out the repair work. I am fully aware that city council maintenance crews are already stretched to the limit and that even carrying out day-to-day repair work has become troublesome for them. It is impossible for the council to further stretch the small resources it has.

In my view, this situation has reached crisis point. It is shocking that some of these houses and flats have been lying empty for up to a year when there are so many people in my area in need of accommodation. As I stated, some of my constituents are already on the housing list, others are homeless or are living with families in overcrowded conditions which are unsuitable to their needs and many others are in rented accommodation, much of which is in a poor state of repair. I have been told by the Minister on many occasions there we have no money. However, the State is paying rent supplement to private landlords. As stated previously, 94,000 people in this country are in receipt of rent supplement, 4,000 of whom live in the Dublin 8, 10 and 12 regions. Rent supplement will cost the Government €436 million this year. I acknowledge that the figure in this regard was much higher last year and I credit the Minister, Deputy Burton, on the reduction achieved this year. However, that amount of money would go a long way towards addressing our social housing needs. It is a massive amount to be handing over to private landlords when there are plenty of empty houses and apartments throughout my constituency and in Dublin, which are owned by the State. We need to take a more sensible approach to this problem.

There are many families who are living in poor accommodation and need to be rehoused. Some of them only require transfer to larger accommodation. There are many flat complexes in the constituency I represent, many of which are past their sell-by date owing to a lack of maintenance, which it is impossible to have addressed.

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