Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We want to gather the information, as the Deputy said, and find out where the problem houses are located. We have asked the local authorities to do that. This year I hope to be able to divert to occupied houses some of the money that would have been used for "voids". I also hope to develop programmes with the information we are gathering from the local authorities. It could be very cost-effective if, for example, there were a number of houses in a particular area and a single contract could cover the work on them. That could save a lot of money. The point about households saving money on fuel costs is also very important. A lot of the older local authority houses have very low BER ratings and are very energy inefficient. If we can improve them significantly, that will save money for householders as well. Like Deputy Collins, I have been shown many photographs of houses with serious mould which is very difficult to live with. People paint their houses but must do so again within a very short period of time. It is a genuine issue that we will address as best we can.

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