Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I am glad that he considers the position intolerable. It is going on for six months and is likely to be seven or eight months if it continues after the Christmas period.

He stated there is a meeting on Friday. I have tenants coming along to my advice centres who were moved out of their accommodation in 2006. Some tenants died in the meantime. They all were elderly at that time. The tenants have been given the numbers of the accommodation they are to move into - this would be the 30% that the CHAS has to allocate - but now it appears that none of them will move in before Christmas. It is a totally unsatisfactory situation. Dublin City Council cannot do anything about other 70% it has to allocate and it has persons on the waiting list who are in urgent need of accommodation. Of course, there is the domino effect. This will create space for others, especially at this point in time when we are in such urgent need of interim housing before the big housing programme comes on stream.

We need immediate action from the Minister and the voluntary housing association. It is 100% State investment. If the Minister can do it on one side, and if the Archbishop can put pressure on the other, we could have a Christmas present for 99 vulnerable people in the community. That is the way it should be. There is no reason it should not be like that.

I have just come from a meeting setting up a committee for the victims of the fire in Gloucester Place off Sean MacDermott Street yesterday and there is a great response from the community. They are so enthusiastic about helping out in any way they can. A bank account has been established for donations in the Bank of Ireland, Marino branch, in Fairview, Dublin 3. If anybody wants to donate to it, the account number is 84680567, or one can donate online as well. That is the response that is coming from the community.

Given that the Government is making a good response in terms of putting €3.8 billion into social housing, why can we not get the voluntary housing association for which the units have been built to allocate those units to its tenants who are in such dire need?

See this speech in context