Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

In terms of maintenance by local authorities, a huge problem is developing with regard to the number of voids left in areas. The Minister of State said that local authorities raise their own funds for the maintenance and the delivery of voids but Dublin City Council now has a huge build up of voids. The problem in my area is getting serious in terms of the number of houses being boarded up which could be used for social housing. That would provide revenue to the local authorities. We would get value for money. There is no doubt the local authorities need to get extra help from somewhere in terms of funding and it is not correct to say that Dublin City Council and other local authorities can raise the funding. They get it from their own tenants through the rents and so on but it is not enough. They are not able to do it. There is an urgent need for help to deal with the maintenance issues.

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