Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for accepting the amendment. I also thank other Deputies for supporting it. This is a potentially important amendment and innovation in the Finance Bill for people who are tenants in local authority houses throughout the country. As Members are aware, local authorities have ceased to do a huge amount of maintenance in local authority properties and it does not look as if they will return any day soon to carrying out routine large-scale maintenance in properties other than, for example, to change windows from time to time. I am strongly of the view that the amendment should be made as people have come to me who want to do up their houses.

They may have wanted to install a new kitchen, extra bathroom facilities or other facilities like heating and windows, if there was no window refurbishment programme in their estate. They found that, having seen all the builders providers, merchants and so on advertising the home improvement scheme, they were barred from it. The Minister's amendment means that those people will now be able to avail of the scheme. As people are aware, the scheme has been enormously popular among home owners as a way of getting some VAT back on the spend on significant home improvements and repairs.

I thank the Minister. I hope he will write to local authorities to advertise the change so they are fully advised of the situation. The permission of local authorities, as the owners of properties, will be required when any structural work is done to ensure it is carried out to a proper standard and, in particular, in accordance with fire safety regulations. I ask the Minister to talk to the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, about this matter.

A number of local authorities, in particular Dublin City Council and Cork City Council, need to change their approach when a tenancy is given up or the council buys old local authority houses from tenants or families who wish to sell them on. It is shocking to see that the first thing local authorities do is park large skips in the gardens of local authority houses, to the intense annoyance of neighbours. They proceed to board up the windows and doors with steel shutters so that the houses are safe if left vacant for a period of time. This has gone on for years in some local authorities. Nobody has been able to influence them until recently. The local authorities then rip everything out of the houses.

I and other Deputies, I am sure, have had people telling us they are moving to another house, perhaps as a tenant in the case of a retired persons' unit. They tell us they would like nice families to get their houses which they have left perfectly clean and in good order. People are heartbroken because we cannot tell them that the councils will respect the homes they have lived in and created over 30 years. Instead, one sometimes has to break it to people gently that the councils may choose to strip a house back to its original condition and then months, or even years, later bring in a team of builders to refurbish the house from top to bottom. As everybody knows, the new occupants of the house can be seen not long afterwards visiting large DIY shops on the outskirts of all our large towns and cities, fitting new kitchens, fireplaces and anything else they can afford. The whole thing is an exercise in wasting money.

The Minister is aware that when I was Tánaiste there was a special programme for, and resources allocated to, councils to end the scandal of boarded-up houses. Over the past two years or so, we brought 5,500 houses, which had been voids, back into use for letting or allocation. Some local authorities are taking their foot off the pedal again in regard to this. As I said, they are also buying other properties, in particular older local authority houses. It is a good policy and they are in areas where many people want to live. Those houses, having been purchased, then end up being boarded-up. It is scandalous.

The Minister needs to put the boot in in regard to any local authority which is carrying out that practice. We are all aware that in large local authority estates there are many risks around anti-social behaviour. A house that is boarded-up and shuttered for protection as it is being left vacant over a long period of time is a magnet for anti-social behaviour, as are front gardens and skips. A measure to deal with this would be popular with people.

I introduced small loan schemes via credit unions which the Department of Social Protection guarantees. The Minister and I co-operated to develop the scheme. It has proven to be very popular and is keeping people away from moneylenders by using local credit unions. People are repaying loans via social welfare payments through the post office payment scheme. It is good for business all around.

In the context of the Minister's amendment, I propose to withdraw my amendment.

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