Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The fact that local authorities have an obligation does not solve anything. They have an obligation but they do not have the houses or the resources necessary to meet people's needs. As a result, they are informing individuals that they have nothing for them. I must stress that local authority officials, and not just public representatives, are overrun in respect of this matter. My heart goes out to housing department officials who are absolutely overrun and do not know where to turn.

The Minister of State said it was not sufficient to merely describe the problem. That is true, but we have to begin by actually trying to define it. The difficulty is that the scheme she is establishing to solve the problem will not work because the private sector will not provide for the people we are discussing. Karl Deeter is a landlord who represents other landlords and he has publicly stated that they are not going to accept what is involved here. The Government is living in cloud cuckoo land if it believes landlords are going go do what is required. There is a sector of Irish society whose members, historically, were provided with council housing. Approximately 20% to 30% of the houses built in any one year in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s were built by the State. The figure in this regard has fallen to 1% or 2%, and that is the problem. If we do not fill the gap, there will be an emergency. That is the point at which we find ourselves. We must provide council houses rather than outsource the problem to the private sector because - apart from the enormous amount of money involved - that is just not going to work.

If the Minister of State is seeking an answer on a short-term basis, I will outline one that could be adopted in my area and, I am sure, in most others. What should be done is that all available buildings in a particular area should be identified. In my area, there is a gigantic seven-block development at Merrion Gates in Sandymount which was built by Bernard McNamara and which is currently in NAMA. Half of the accommodation in this development is empty, and because it is in public ownership, it should be used to house people on a temporary basis. There is another big Celtic tiger development, The Grange on the Stillorgan Road, which people were enticed to consider as a place to live by the phrase "Welcome to the spirit of gracious living". The empty properties in that development should also be taken over by the State. There are empty council-owned buildings in my area which need to be refurbished and in which 40 to 50 families could be accommodated on a temporary basis. This could be done throughout the country. The Minister of State needs to sit down with everyone who has a stake in this matter and ask where can people be accommodated and what resources will be needed in order to ensure that this will happen.

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