John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil supports the Bill from this side of the House, as it builds on legislation introduced by it in 2009. While the Bill is worthwhile and will streamline matters, I wish to raise a few points about the 100,000 applicants on local authority housing waiting lists. I also want to ask questions about NAMA which does a lot of talking about the number of houses on its list but which seems to be slow in making deals or decisions on how houses can be reallocated to local authorities across the country. An example is Enniscorthy Town Council which purchased a number of houses from a developer who subsequently ended up in NAMA. The slowness of decision making in NAMA led to the local authority pulling out of the deal and deciding not to pursue it. It highlighted the difficulty of dealing with NAMA and the difficulty in NAMA making a quick decision. It is essential that it speed up the process. I am sure the Minister of State is in discussions on a regular basis with it. We are told it has more than 3,000 properties on its books that are potentially suitable for housing applicants. Wexford County Council and the three town authorities are not building or buying houses and are leasing few houses. I am sure the position is the same in other counties. The rental accommodation scheme works to a certain extent, but otherwise people have no hope of getting a house in the near future. I ask the Minister of State to ensure any decision NAMA takes is speeded up.

The Bill does not set out a definitive national standard for differential rent schemes. Every county seems to have a differential rent scheme. Wexford County Council has one, but it also has a scheme whereby tenants pay an extra €2 or €3 every week which goes towards window replacement, door replacement and the cost of repairs to the house. It is a good project, but, for some unknown reason, repairs have not been carried out in the past 18 months. There is a feeling the money taken in is being utilised to keep down the council's interest rate because of the high level of arrears. There is a need for a standardised differential rent scheme across the country.

While there are built-in allowances and hardship can be taken into account by the housing officer in the local authority, there should be an allowance where there is a disabled person in a family. Many families have a disabled people living in the house, which makes it expensive for them. There seems to be no built-in allowance to cover this fact. This aspect should be examined.

Local authority housing units are not exempt from local property tax. There is a vagueness about how local authorities will operate the scheme. The council states it must pay local property tax and it will obviously pass it on to the tenant. That will be a further burden on the tenant because local authority rents are extremely high. How councils will deal with this aspect should be clarified. Houses seem to be valued at €45,000 in the first year and €90,000 in the second. Perhaps the Minister might clarify whether this is laid down in stone. Can more be charged if a local authority housing area scheme is located in a particularly upmarket area?

I refer to the disabled person's grant. The Minister of State allocated some moneys to local authorities in recent months in this regard. The allocation to the council in Wexford was substantially reduced from €2.7 million to €1.2 million and the authority has written to old age pensioners who would normally qualify. Applicants for roof repairs, window replacement or door replacement have received a letter saying the file has been put on hold indefinitely and that the council cannot state when cases will be dealt with. It cannot accept new applicants from 1 May. People living in substandard houses are not in a position to carry out essential repairs and window and roof replacement. As a result, the housing stock will be further run down. In the past there was an initial and a follow-up allocation.

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