Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comments because I am delighted to hear him reiterate what I heard him say on local radio recently, that because of the success of the compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, and bringing other properties back into use, he would be amenable to additional funding. I welcome that. I tabled this Topical Issue matter early last week. There may have been an application that the Minister of State referred to and I take his word that it has come in, but that still leaves approximately half the number I referred to. I think the Minister of State indicated 46 houses, which subtracted from 91 leaves approximately 45 more houses, if my maths are correct. I stand over that.

I will be speaking to the department of housing in Louth County Council on Monday morning to make sure a further application is submitted to the Department on which I hope the Minister of State will look favourably. Louth County Council has also been advocating for the design of social housing schemes to be in line with a universal design for the past year and I have been told that the Minister of State has committed to changing the policy to do this, but the Department is indicating that it is unlikely to fund that element of works, for example, on a new housing scheme in Mount Avenue where special moneys were allocated. It is a no-brainer that standards should improve in new builds. Can this be considered again in view of the funding announced in the budget?

Louth County Council is also seeking the introduction of an asset management strategy for the local authority housing sections that we have funded centrally. I may be stretching this a bit but, as a result of Garda activity and the bulldozing of some of the sites that were causing problems in Drogheda, Cement Road had considerable works. Will the Department provide funding in the order of €50,000 to sort out that problem, which I am sure the Minister of State is aware of, arising from anti-social behaviour?

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