Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I remind the previous speaker that the previous Government built up to 44,000 housing units in an eight or nine year period.

Let us return to a point where we on this side of the House can agree about what has been said consistently during this debate. It stems from the short-term measures included in this Bill, which we welcome. We acknowledge the need for them but they are short-term solutions for many people who need a long-term solution. The Minister of State has acknowledged that those accommodated by this scheme will come off the housing list. Where they go from there is the problem. The Minister of State says they will go on a transfer list. In all the counties we represent there are fiefdoms, which have different rules and regulations and management structures for the control of lists and how people are transferred. Some people cannot get a transfer unless they have been in a house for a year or two. Some local authorities do not operate a transfer system at all because of the costs associated with it. The Minister of State says she will apply a ministerial order to effect this. How in heaven’s name can she be in her office every second day writing ministerial orders for people who wish to apply for a transfer, when their local authority does not have a system that might accommodate that process in the first instance?

The Minister of State knows well that there is nothing in this Bill to acknowledge the fact that a long-term solution needs to remain available to those accommodated on a HAP scheme. We are all on the same wavelength in respect of this Bill and our amendment. The Minister of State has acknowledged that she wants to get those people on a list. The only way to do that is by accepting an amendment or at least by acknowledging, when she brings the Bill to the Seanad, the efforts many of us have made here today to ensure that long-term housing remains available to anybody on a HAP scheme.

We all know the difficulty the Minister of State has had heretofore in raising funds to address this problem as it was historically addressed, through the provision of housing units. Until local authorities can address the existing difficulties in a meaningful way we will not solve this problem. Meanwhile, there are short-term solutions, as there have been for the past three or four years. We acknowledge the Minister of State’s efforts in that regard. In the interests of conciliation and of serving our purpose here, to help those in need, the Minister of State must play her part in this process and accept some of these amendments in the good faith in which they are proposed.

I did not want to have to say what other speakers have said but the Minister of State seems to deny outright and try to disregard everything and anything put before her. I believe she does want to solve this problem and she is disappointed that many local authorities have taken the liberty of taking people off housing lists when short-term solutions are provided. Rather than make ministerial orders, the Minister of State and the officials in the Department should put their heads together and either accept some of these amendments or take cognisance of what we have said because we represent many constituents around the country. We are not making this up. We are all interested in providing solutions. The Minister of State has put forward short-term solutions in the hope of finding long-term solutions soon, through various means. In the meantime, however, she should not deny these people the right and opportunity to have a long-term solution, as everybody on the housing list does.

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