Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Although I do not condone what is happening in Apollo House, I have sympathy. Housing applicants in my constituency ring me day in day out saying they are already threatening to break down the doors of empty properties in my constituency that have been vacant for a long time already. The onus is on the providers and owners to get off their butts and get something done about making these houses available.

I have never been a fan of NAMA. A Tupperware sale would give a better return to the Government than NAMA's property sales in the initial days. It was a pure disgrace. This is the first time I have spoken in the Chamber on the issue. I watched some of the best buildings and property in the country being sold for nothing. NAMA is trying to play catch up, and that is probably what is happening. Brendan McDonagh is turning on the builders and telling them he wants to make more money out of them now, after they have taken a haircut of 40% or 50% in many cases. I have sympathy. I am a middle of the road man on the issue, but I have concern.

Deputies Fergus O'Dowd, Mick Wallace and John McGuinness have focused on the local authorities. I remember two or two and a half years ago when a Labour Party Deputy put down a parliamentary question asking what property NAMA had offered to local authorities. The figure of 6,500 was mentioned. It was well covered in the national newspapers. I went to my local authority's housing department and the offers stated in the newspaper did not correspond with what it had been given. NAMA was playing a right charade in trying to bluff the Members here. Those offers did not go properly. It was a pure charade. The property was not made available.

Getting back to my own neck of the woods, while I am not in a zoned area, we have a rent problem due to the lack of availability of housing stock, although we might not have the same rent demands. A secretary in a solicitor's office in Mitchelstown might be doing the same type of work as a secretary in a solicitor's office in Cork city, but would be paid much less than a secretary in Cork city or in Dublin. People in receipt of rent supplement in high-rent areas such as Cork city and Dublin receive extra allowances. That is why I am concerned about rent increases. Will it affect the whole country? Disposable income will not be the same for those working in rural areas as for those in urban areas. We must think out the amendment more properly.

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