Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every week for the past number of years, Opposition Deputies have highlighted the housing crisis, with over 90,000 people on the waiting list. Breaking it down by county, the announcement as part of the spring economic statement for my county involved 40 houses between now and the end of 2017. There are 12 for Killarney, 12 for Tralee, four for Lixnaw, and 12 single rural cottages. This amounts to 40 houses. There are 4,000 people on the housing list waiting across the county, with 2,000 on the waiting list in the town of Tralee. That puts things in perspective when the State is paying out €6 million per year on rent supplement to private landlords in the county of Kerry. A substantial number of former local authority houses are for sale. I have asked the council to consider purchasing them. It depends on what will come from the Exchequer to help.

The people looking for transfers include those with disabilities living in upstairs apartments. They are waiting to be housed and cannot get transfers from council apartments. It is a shambles. The Minister of State will argue that this is what he inherited from the previous Government and the crisis in the economy. Having said that, there is an urgent need for this and I cannot understand why the Government pays €6 million a year to private landlords for rental accommodation when a substantial amount of that money could be spent providing local authority housing for 2,000 people on the housing list in the county.

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