Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reason the question is phrased in the way it is is that there seems to be an issue in my constituency in dealing with the local authority down there and the accommodation finding officer. The officer will offer full, proper assistance only when a person or family find themselves without a home. Cork County Council has been to the fore in bringing voids back into the social housing stock and in delivering social housing in general. The Minister will visit Skibbereen next week and the 50 social houses there and the 100 social houses in Clonakilty that are being delivered for families that need them. However, there are families who find themselves only a matter of weeks from being without a home because of the sale of a property, for example. They are not able to avail of the county council's homeless services and emergency accommodation. The likes of Novas are under serious pressure to deliver such services, so something needs to change in that regard.

See this speech in context