Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy and her colleague beside her were members of Dublin City Council. Dublin City Council has had the practice of closing large volumes of accommodation units when they become vacant. Local authorities have been heavily resourced by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, by the then Minister of State with responsibility, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and more recently by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, to bring these back into use.

In the case of a number of the families about whom the Deputy is speaking, accommodation where the empty properties have been redone are in locations where there is other council housing and they would be highly acceptable, as I know and the Deputy knows, to many of the people concerned provided they come on stream as fast as Dublin City Council can do that. Through the protocol with the housing organisations and the support services, we have made provision for up to 1,500 agreements. In addition, across a range of local authorities new people coming in get the housing assistance payment, HAP. That is also working.

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