Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In my first contribution, I focused on the amendment without dealing with the broader issues.

I want to say a couple of things about NAMA. It has been a disaster and will prove to be one of the scandals of the country in the future. There are a lot of questions to be answered. When it was set up we could not get answers to from it about anything that was going on, no matter what parliamentary question we submitted. It was set up by the previous Government to deliver a social dividend. We were told properties could not be transferred to local authorities for social housing, which is another disaster because the vast majority of properties should have been used to deal with waiting lists. That did not happen, and we have ended up with many leasing arrangements with NAMA. It is accumulating funds, we are paying it and the funds are used to pay developers. Such a policy is scandalous and makes no sense.

The large portfolios have been sold off. What is the rush? Am I missing something in terms of why the Government is forcing NAMA to move quickly and sell off properties? They have been sold at knock-down prices and people are being put in jeopardy. Those living in some of the properties that have been sold on are being put under pressure, which is adding to the housing problem. The Minister of State mentioned the housing crisis. We have a major crisis. I do not know where he is coming from when he says the housing crisis is being addressed. It is quite clear that in the past year, and since the death of Jonathan Corrie, that the number of people and families that have become homeless has doubled.

I attended meetings at Christmas with the Minister of State. One would have sworn that the housing crisis would be resolved. The Minister of State mentioned the €3.8 billion that was going to be spent on housing and the €2.5 billion to be allocated over the next couple of years. Where is the money? I have spoken to local authorities, which have not received it.

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