Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Wexford County Council applied for funding of €733,000 this year to return units to people for housing but was granted only one third of that sum. Given that this is one of the cheaper ways to create housing, will the Minister of State explain why she did not give the council the rest of the money?

I want to highlight something Michael Taft, research officer at the UNITE union, brought forward lately when he wrote on UNITE's website:

It states:

If by this time next year if [sic] there are people still homeless, it’s because the Government made a policy choice. €7 billion is being spent [this year] on paying down debt ... It comes from the Government’s considerable cash balances. At the end of 2013, the Government held €18.5 billion in cash. This is made up of money that has already been borrowed and revenue from bank investments ... The Government is taking the €7 billion and paying down Government debt to lower the debt/GDP ratio ... So let’s take half of that money the Government is using to pay down debt - €3.5 billion – and use it to build social houses, house the homeless and put some people back to work ... The €3.5 billion would build approximately 20,000 social houses ... The impact on employment would be considerable. 35,000 direct jobs would be created – that is, jobs on site. NERI estimates further job creation given the impact on downstream sectors (building supplies, transport) and the additional demand injected into the economy.

It is hardly rocket science to suggest this would be a good way to move forward and address many problems. It would create employment and deal with homelessness and the need for social housing. It would be good for the economy all round.

See this speech in context