Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all accept the Government's targets for affordable housing have been too low. Yet, yesterday's announcement of the housing statistics highlights that even with these very low figures the Government still cannot hit its targets. Affordable housing represents the only opportunity for many families to ever be able to own their own home. Yet the Government still cannot give those people the opportunity to buy a home. There were 4,000 affordable home promised and just over 1,700 were delivered. How can the Minister, Deputy McGrath, stand over that?

I will break things down a bit. Cork City Council confirmed to me just today that not one of the 135 affordable homes built last year, which are ready right now to be moved into, have anyone living in them. The reason is the Minister's Department; its bureaucracy and the red tape. The houses in Cork are ready. They are ready and are built, and people are looking for them. I will give two examples of the consequences of the Minister's ineptitude. One family that contacted me gave up their rental property so they would be able to move into their home, but the house will not be ready at all. This family is now facing homelessness. They are facing homelessness and will have nowhere to go on Friday. What will the Minister tell them? I am asking the Minister. Another family was also due to be in phase 1. They had to move back in with the parents of one of the couple. There they are now, a husband and wife and two children, who got a pass for an affordable house, and for months they have been living in a room with their family. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is the Minister for housing. This is on his watch. How can he justify people waiting for months while the houses are built? It is happening because the Minister has not done his job with the legislation to get the Department to deliver on these.

Local authorities, such as Cork City Council and others, are crying out to deliver affordable housing. The Minister is the person who is blocking them. I will give another example. Hawke's Road in Cork had 135 completions advertised on 14 March, but none has been allocated yet. Cork City Council is doing everything it can but the Minister is letting them down and the buck stops with him.

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