Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response and I do not doubt his sincerity and genuine commitment to resolving an issue which is at crisis point and has been steadily building over a period of seven to eight years. Local authorities need to be more involved. Some local authorities are performing and operating to the strategy, but others are not delivering. Housing voids, which are those which are vacant and need refurbishment, need to be made available for new tenants but it is simply too slow. The system is too cumbersome and the reaction time of local authorities is too slow.

It does not make sense. We have 3,000 qualified applicants on the housing list in Tipperary. We built four houses in the past two years, and I am told there is a huge backlog in the Department. Responsibility to proceed with the work should be delegated to local authorities. At present we have five different stages. Local authorities must apply to the Department for an appraisal to be carried out on the requirement for housing. They must then go through a design process and a tendering process. It takes years and not months to get it through the Department. It would greatly assist if responsibility was delegated to the local authorities. Let them make their own decisions. Let them apply procurement laws and let the Department assign somebody to do an assessment of them.

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