Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am happy the Deputy asked that question because I want to outline to the House the level of management the Department is putting into this as it is such an important issue. All the local authority housing managers and directors are currently meeting with my Department. That is the level of seriousness with which we are taking this issue. Yesterday, myself and the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, chaired the social housing oversight group which meets every month to ensure that everything is happening in that regard. Also, a meeting is taking place this week with the approved housing bodies.

We have targets, and measures to judge those targets. They are checked on a weekly and monthly basis. We have zoned in on pressure areas in particular. We have heat mapped the country. We have identified the absolute priorities in regard to housing and we will concentrate on those in particular. For instance, as regards housing in Dublin, a meeting takes place at 9 o'clock every Monday morning involving the Dublin task force and Dublin City Council. That is the priority our Department is giving this issue.

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