Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This scheme was announced a year and a half ago in the middle of a housing crisis and, let me remind the Minister, at a time when house prices have continued to rise across the State, a time when rents in my own county and many other counties have increased by double digits - by 20% in my county - and a time when we have the highest ever levels of homelessness. A year and a half on, in the middle of a housing crisis, 21 grants have been drawn down, with none in the entire county of Cork or in Cork city, none in Donegal and none in many other counties across the board. Why? It is because the scheme is flawed in the way it is being implemented.

It is not just those targets the Government is missing. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, misses all the targets he is responsible for over and over again. He was supposed to deliver 3,500 affordable homes this year, but six months in the number delivered was 123. The target for social housing was 9,100, but six months the figure was 1,400. The Minister is likely to miss those targets again this year, as he has missed them every single year since becoming Minister. The vacant home refurbishment scheme is popular and people want this, but the administration of the scheme, just like the way the Government announced this without even talking to the banks, has meant people are not able to draw down the money in a timely manner.

See this speech in context