Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has repeated everything he said previously and, in fairness, we refuted these points on each occasion. Essentially, he has argued that he is not in the housing business, that it costs too much, that other agencies look after housing, that he is the Minister for Defence and that people knew when they were given houses that they would have to leave. We can answer all of these points. Some did not know and they are in the Visitors Gallery. Even if it was stated in their contracts, they had a reasonable expectation that they could remain because the practice had been that the Defence Forces allowed people to remain on. The Minister answered us last month to the effect that, based on his Department's figures, it made money out of the fact that they were there. Five times as much comes in by way of rent as goes out in paying for repairs to those dwellings. However, the main point we want to make is that the Minister has a duty of care. Ten days after we had raised the issue on the previous occasion and four days before Christmas one of the families received an eviction notice. The father had given 42 years of loyal service to the State and raised his family in the house. He was a proud and committed soldier. He has tried to vacate the property. He has gone to the bank, but he has been told he is too old to apply for a mortgage. He has gone to the council which has told him he has too much money to apply for a council house. The people involved will not go away. I, therefore, ask the Minister to call a halt to the evictions and try to agree a solution with them. I do not know what it might be, but treating them in this way is appalling.

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