Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is actually over time, and that is not for the first time either.

This is an important issue. The reason it is important is that it is simple to fix, and it could have been fixed. I am sorry the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, is not here because his party has been in government for 13 years. To be at this stage after 13 years is not acceptable. The Minister of State will know from his party's councillors in Mayo that the truth is being told here about what the housing stock is like. Simple maintenance jobs need to be done. I commend the workers involved. The problem is that in the past 13 years, the number of maintenance workers employed by the council has been cut back. There are not enough of them to do the work that need to be done. The other issue is that there is loads of money until you go looking for it. Then the council does not have money to do this, that or the other. That is wholly unacceptable when we have a surplus of €8.6 billion. It cannot be allowed to continue.

Sometimes, people in rural areas in Mayo and elsewhere wonder whether it is because they live so far out that they are completely forgotten when it comes to what needs to be done. People deserve to live in adequate conditions and should not have the wind blowing in through windows or doors or either electrics that do not work or are faulty. These are simple jobs. Councillor Gerry Murray of Sinn Féin highlighted some emergency cases a few weeks ago at a meeting of Mayo County Council, including one instance where one elderly person was left without heat over a weekend and another still had a piece of plywood covering a window almost a week after reporting that the window had been broken. I am dealing with a family in Ballina that has a problem with pyrite. We have to get the issue of pyrite in council houses sorted out. The houses of tenants who are paying rent to Mayo County Council are falling down and nothing is being done. These people have not been told when their houses will be fixed. We know we will have to get those houses fixed sooner or later so why not do them now? It is obvious that they are affected by pyrite. Why not get on with the work that needs to be done and let these people get on with their lives? That is just the council tenants. Will the Minister of State please escalate the pyrite scheme for council tenants? It is not acceptable to leave them in this limbo.

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