Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would say that on a weekly basis every Deputy meets persons coming into their constituency offices who are seeking social housing, be they low-income families who are renting private accommodation and are being helped out by community welfare officers to put food on the table, single parents living on the lone parent allowance and receiving rent allowance in order to have accommodation, or others who would be on the rent allowance scheme, RAS. There are 98,316 on the local authority housing list, 23,649 on the RAS and 94,000 in receipt of rent supplement. If one adds up those figures, it comes to 216,000 persons who are awaiting social housing. In contrast, according to figures we were given here a number of years ago, there were 314,000 units empty in the country, the majority of them accommodation for housing.

Over the past number of years the taxpayers, against their will, bailed out the banks. These are the very same banks which are currently trying to repossess family homes across this island. There are others also involved, the sub-prime lenders. Previously, I have read names into the record. One of those is a person by the name of Mr. Ronald Weisz of Wise Mortgages and other companies, who has been declared bankrupt in the United States but who also has a conviction here for illegally soliciting deposits. Mr. Weisz's company operates in a legal limbo. Prior to 2008, there was no authorisation or supervision of retail credit companies and, consequently, Wise Finance is neither licensed nor supervised by the Central Bank. Clearly, there is a need to bring all such persons under legislation.

Anyone who read the Irish Examiner on Saturday last would have seen where it named Wise Mortgages and a person by the name of Mr. Ian Andrews, who was convicted for corporate tax fraud of £76 million and served 12 years in prison. These persons are operating in this country and nothing can be done about them. They are repossessing homes and property from Irish persons whom they sucked into their web and there is still nothing that can be done about them. I have written to the Central Bank about it and I received letters back from it. I have repeatedly raised the matter in the House. Nothing is done about these legalised gangsters who are effectively evicting ordinary decent Irish persons from their homes on a daily basis. Something needs to be done about it. Something needs to be done, in particular, to provide a social housing programme that will provide accommodation to those who are seeking this for so long.

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