Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I have already indicated to the Deputy, my Department does not have a role in the provision of housing accommodation for the general public. However, my Department does deal with each case on its own merits. As I said, officials of my Department have been in contact with the local authorities, and information on the appropriate State agencies to provide assistance is given to those over-holders as part of the Department's engagement with them. If the Department was not dealing with this matter in a humane and considered way, some of the individuals referred to by the Deputy, who have been maintaining occupation of accommodation they knew they had an obligation to vacate, would have been required long ago to vacate it.

I accept this is a difficult issue for some families. It is an issue the Department has sought to deal with over a series of years, through the presence of successive Ministers for Defence, in a manner that is as careful as is possible. However, at the end of the day, this was accommodation only provided to be made available to families during the term of a person being a member of the Defence Forces.

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