John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Within 100 hundred yards of my office there are two locations within one housing estate on which significant amounts of money was spent by the HSE on the upgrade of houses through Respond. Those houses remain vacant to this day despite the fact that the county manager and the housing officer were made aware of the fact that they are vacant. In Kilkenny city there are at least 12 individuals, intellectually disabled, living in the Aspect Hotel because of the failure of politics and policy in this area. One young lady has been living in that hotel for five months without being offered a local authority house or any other accommodation. During the last two months, there were 52 court cases to evict people and families from their homes. I attended those court cases, where I watched the legal representatives from both sides giving the nod to each other while the judge nodded through the eviction order.

That is an absolute disgrace because it simply means people are being thrown out of their homes and on to the waiting lists. The banks, in which we have shares and one of which we own, forced those evictions and if we are going to do anything for those in this situation, we should immediately stop the banks from evicting people. We have moved way past moral hazard, which is the usual nonsense that is thrown around. The banks will have to be told to stop. They are contributing to a crisis to which the Government does not seem to have the answers. Yet, the answer is simple. Houses that require extensions should be extended to keep families in their homes, while vacant houses should be refurbished. They seem to fall through the cracks with county managers and senior executives not wanting to know anything about them. Families should be assisted to remain in their homes. In addition, unfinished estates should be finished to ensure units are coming onto the market, thereby providing a solution to some of the cases on the housing lists.

The debate will be judged on the fine contributions that were made. Those on the housing lists and those who are being chucked out of their houses will look to the Government for solutions. It is about time the Minister made impositions on those who are well paid to work for the salaries they are getting and to bring forward imaginative plans in each local authority area.

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