Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all know and agree there is not enough affordable and social housing available for councils to allocate. However, we also know there are councils across the entire country that are years behind on the maintenance and upkeep of their housing stock. The day-to-day maintenance of social housing is primarily funded by the rents paid by tenants. However, when it comes to county council budgets for planning for maintenance, there are huge shortfalls. Time and again, renters are getting similar responses from county councils. I will quote correspondence from some recent cases. A county council stated: "Having examined the matter, housing maintenance are not in a position to consider windows and doors as currently there is no planned maintenance budget". A second reply states: "When planned maintenance funding is available, the certain mentioned housing estate will be considered". Estates such as Father Murphy Park and Gimont in Enniscorthy or residents in the Windmill Hills estate in Wexford town are also in desperate need of replacement windows and doors.

The messaging we hear every day is that we must reduce our carbon footprint and be more energy efficient, yet councils are short of inspectors and way behind on retrofitting homes where real meaningful energy poverty can be tackled. There is a responsibility on the State to ensure maintenance budgets are supplemented to enable them to carry out these essential works. The Government must take heed. If there is no sea change in the funding model for councils across the country, including Wexford County Council, communities will continue to be neglected, resulting in them becoming areas of deprivation, and we will see an increase in energy and fuel poverty. What is needed is the restoration of social and affordable housing at a rate of approximately 50,000 units per year. Local authority grants for people with disabilities must be increased and reflect current inflationary prices. The maximum grant stands at just €30,000. Retrofitting and refurbishment grants must be simplified and made more attractive to regenerate and reinvigorate our small towns and villages, especially over shops and commercial premises. Lastly, more inspectors are needed to carry out inspections and bring local authority housing stock back into decent condition under building construction standards and introduce periodic stock surveys, as recommended in the Housing Commission report.

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