Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I see no reason for amendments Nos. 16 and 17 not to be accepted. I do not accept what the Minister of State has said, that this is already provided for in legislation. We all know that any income that comes in to a local authority is taken into account when it comes to local government funding. Often this money is put on the central books and we end up with less money for local government funding.

There is an issue also in regard to Dublin City Council flats. No progress has been made in terms of selling these flats. The last thing I want to see is social housing coming off the lists, but any money received in regard to such housing sales must be ringfenced. There is nothing wrong with seeking ringfencing of this money and if there is no demand for further social housing, the money could be used for the maintenance of existing local housing stock. This must be stated specifically in the Bill. The previous Act mentions money may be used for "related purposes or otherwise", which leaves a way for the money to be used elsewhere. This is unacceptable, because we must replace stock. The situation is so urgent we must do that.

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