Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The turnover of local authority houses must have been held up due to Covid-19 and the disruption of construction. Has the Minister a timeline for when works can commence on these houses? While everything has slowed down, which is very stressful for those urgently seeking homes, I am delighted that two houses became available in Drimoleague and one in Durrus in west Cork yesterday. It was good news for the applicants. I expect the Minister will not be able to answer my question now, but two new social housing developments, one in Dunmanway and the other in Bandon, received a large number of applications when they came up on choice based letting, CBL. When will these houses be allocated? Perhaps the Minister will refer back to me with the answer as I am inundated with people pleading with me to find out when the houses will become available. They have made their applications.

We have been pressing for housing so people can live in rural Ireland and on our islands in west Cork. We now know why rural Ireland is the safest place for people to live. The rules for once-off housing in rural areas will have to be relaxed now to allow people who wish to live in rural areas to do so. Will the Minister support this? It is a straight question. In addition, I have long been an advocate of a rural resettlement scheme where the focus would be on taking people from overcrowded hotels in our cities and resettling them in rural communities. Small towns and villages in west Cork such as Allihies, Goleen, Kaelkill, Leap, Ballinacarriga, Ballinadee and Union Hall could benefit greatly from such a scheme. The people could live in a healthy environment that is almost clear of the coronavirus. A rural resettlement scheme was included in the last programme for Government. Why did it not happen? Are there any plans to implement a rural resettlement scheme in the future?

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