Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Minister of State will accept this amendment because if the Government and the local authorities are not able to deal with this issue, then they do not have a hope of dealing with the housing crisis, given we are talking about houses that are existing, vacant and in public ownership. In the case of every single person on the housing list, the first thing they raise with any councillor or Deputy is the number of boarded up houses they see. It is a huge source of anger for people on waiting lists.

As a public representative over a period of time, I know there are sometimes complex reasons that these houses cannot be acquired and turned over, and we all know there may be legal issues and so on.

However, the reality is that the inability of the State to deal with these houses that have been boarded up over long periods of time is a real reflection of its lack of urgency in respect of the housing crisis. The councils' insistence on gutting the houses is a real problem. It is well reported by many housing tenants that kitchens, presses and units are taken out by local authorities when they do not need to be taken out. This policy must be reviewed, given the current crisis. Sometimes it is done for safety reasons. We are told it is not possible to leave particular lino or tiles behind. It was raised again with me last night at a public meeting in Blanchardstown by people on the housing list. They asked me why this is continuing. They know the council is wasting time carrying out all these renovations when a person would happily move into the house and make whatever adjustments are required themselves.

Cuts in funding are the real reason these houses are lying vacant over long periods of time. It relates to cuts in staff, which means that tradesmen and tradeswomen are not available, and cuts in funding for necessary works. If the Government is serious about doing anything about the housing crisis, one would expect that the first thing it would do is to provide the money and staffing to get these houses turned over very quickly. One would expect an announcement to be made, so I imagine that the Minister of State will agree to this amendment.

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