Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am mystified. There is only one way to sort this out, which is for the Minister of State, myself and any other Members of the Oireachtas who so wish should sit down with the county manager. We are being told one thing. The Minister of State is saying the county council is being flooded with money and is not building. He cannot blame the council for everything. The council is under fierce pressure with the homelessness crisis and dealing with HAP. There are voids all over the place. They have been there for five and six years and the same is true in the Minister of State's county too. There is a lot of dysfunctionality somewhere in the system. Money is being announced. If that money is not drawn down, does it go back to the Department? There are many questions I would like to ask.

Just 11 houses in that number of years is crazy. Everyone can see that. That is why we have the housing crisis. It is replicated up and down the country. There is something wrong. I have asked the former Minister, Deputy Coveney, the Minister of State and other Ministers with responsibility for housing to bring in the county managers and ask them to explain. I do not mean like calling the banks for tea and sweet cake. The Government should just say we want action here. We want the people housed. We want some kind of functionality in the building industry and the knock-on effect on the economy as well, apart altogether from the unfortunate people waiting for houses for 12 and 15 years. There are over 3,000 people waiting in Tipperary, approved applicants, not to mention all the people who are not approved. This is crazy.

We put all our eggs in one basket with the HAP and the rent allowance and no building. We need a building stock because we will end up with no stock at all if we do not have a building stock. I am asking the Minister of State to get a date for the county manager and director of services for housing in order that we can meet in the Minister of State's office here in Dublin and have some answer to the question, not the Minister of State telling me one thing here and them throwing something else around in Tipperary. Dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi go raibh fear i dTiobraid Árainn a bhfuil póca ina léine aige. This is what is going on - a fudge up and down the country. Around the seven different offices of the Department around the country they go, around to Castlebar, around the merry-go-round, pushing paper.

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