Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to refer briefly to the whole housing issue. The figures that have been given by the Minister of State with regard to new builds are tiny. They are a drop in the ocean. In the case of in County Laois, the figure will be six in 2014 and 2015. The money that is being provided is welcome. I think a figure of €70,000 has been mentioned with regard to County Laois. This shows the number of voids in the county is quite small, which is a good thing. Something more substantial is needed in this context. I suggest that the Minister of State will have to look off the balance sheet. Along with other Deputies on this side of the House, I have suggested some methods of trying to raise money off the balance sheet and start a major social housing programme. We are facing something like what we faced in the 1950s and the 1930s. There are huge problems out there. I do not think the scale of this massive problem has been absorbed by the Government. I accept that the problem was already there when the Government came into power, but it has grown since then. There is always a problem with a shortage of social housing, but there is an absolute crisis at the moment. It has to be dealt with by the Government. It cannot be left to the voluntary agencies, which are building up huge stocks of housing. I do not have a problem with the voluntary agencies per se. I want the problem to be solved. The Government is brewing up a problem down the line. Neither the local authority nor the Government at national level has control over the housing stock. They do not have the title deeds of the houses. This is a huge problem that is brewing up in the housing sector. It would not exist if the Government or the local authority had the title deeds, or if the tenant purchased the house and wound up with the title deeds permanently. The Minister of State needs to watch that and be careful as she moves forward.

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