Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

He might get some second preferences. We need to look at those issues. The 2040 national development plan means we are designating significant growth in areas of our cities and towns. The increase in population that is coming needs to be planned for and thought about now. We need to make sure any roadblocks that may be in the way are dealt with.

The progress that has been made is significant. What Deputy Breathnach says is true in that we all need to work together and accentuate and support the leadership roles. In other words, if there is leadership, as there is in County Louth, I believe we should take the people who are providing that leadership and make sure they are put in a position to demand a response and accountability from local authorities up and down the country. This would be extremely beneficial and useful, and it does actually work. However, we have to have the guts, the determination and the commitment to do it. If we have those things, it will happen. If we do not have them, we will continue to have boarded-up homes and abandoned properties which families should and could live in.

The biggest crime that has been committed against housing applicants in recent years has been committed by the local authorities themselves, in particular through the rejection by local authorities of the option presented to them of thousands of NAMA properties. They refused to take them. They refused to say, "Yes, we will take these homes and put local authority tenants into them". It is entirely unacceptable, although it is historical now because it has happened. Over 1,000 houses in Dublin could have local authority ownership or leasing, and could have local authority tenants in them, but this has been denied to those families. When we see all of the homelessness in Dublin, which is very significant and is an appalling vista for those families, a significant number of them could be in local authority homes today if local authorities had to accept them.

One of the main reasons they used to say "No" was that the social mix was wrong. In other words, they did not want council tenants living in certain estates. Whereas the mix was originally 10% and some councils went to 20%, they could have gone to 30%, 40% or even 50% if they had wanted to, and they did not. The point is that those houses the councils would not take up now contain HAP tenants who are paying a fortune to the private landlords who took over those homes. All of these people are waiting to go on the council list while they are living in houses which the council could have owned. That is entirely wrong.

I support the Minister in what he is doing. We need to be more radical and ruthless in terms of the lack of productivity from some local authorities. Ultimately, the people will judge us all on this. The judgment at the moment would be that while there is a lot done, as Fianna Fáil would say, there is a lot more that must be done. We must do it. I believe the Government is tackling this in the correct and appropriate way.

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