Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has admitted, and her officials have said, that they are coming off the local authority list because they are deemed to have had their housing needs met. There is nothing of equivalent status in the Bill to state that they will go on some other list and we know from experience, as was alluded to by Deputy O'Brien earlier during Leaders' Questions, that there is a wide variety of approaches to the issue of transfers in local authorities up and down of the country. Over the past couple of days I learned here that in Dublin, for example, one must be two years in a house and one can only be transferred in circumstances where there is extreme ill-health or anti-social behaviour of a high order. In Kildare, when there was a transfer list, there were not many transfers at the best of times but one could only be transferred once one had been one year on the list. For quite a period of time now, however, Kildare County Council has not agreed to any transfers at all. If the Minister of State's theory was to come into play, tenants would go on a list in Kildare, but, unfortunately, the list does not exist because the policy of the local authority is not to facilitate transfers at all. The reason it does not facilitate transfers is because there are costs associated with the transfer of tenants from one unit to another.

To get back to the amendment, it would be in everybody's interest to devise a system where what the Minister of State has in mind would happen.

RAS can be an example of that. In Kildare, for example, it would make sense that people who can avail of casual vacancies - all other things being equal and given that they may qualify - should be given preference where they can prove their tenancy in a RAS unit or a long-term lease unit. Such people who are in a position to demonstrate they are good tenants, pay their rent, maintain the property to a high standard and are not involved in anti-social behaviour should logically progress from temporary RAS or HAP accommodation to a permanent local authority house or one provided by a voluntary housing association. If we did it that way, we would be managing housing stock and social housing demand in the most effective possible manner. We would thereby achieve a situation in which estates, which are in fact communities, would comprise people who have demonstrated over a period their commitment to live an orderly life, respect their neighbours and pay rent. Ultimately, that would be good for all of us but that is not how things currently operate. That is what we were trying to achieve by tabling this amendment.

There is an inescapable logic in the amendment before the Minister. It is particularly inescapable when viewed against what the Minister of State says she wants to do in respect of housing assistance payments. She has not made provision in the Bill for what she says she wants to do. This is an opportunity to indicate that this is the direction in which she hopes to go.

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