Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State and I both come from the Limerick City constituency. Before I came to the Chamber, I listened in my office to what he said. I was surprised. As he knows, we officially have 220 boarded-up council houses, of which 62, or 28%, have been boarded up for more than a year. He knows that because he has seen it. Across the city, Ballynanty, Kileely, Thomondgate, Moyross and Southill all have boarded-up houses. Those 220 homes should have families living in them. They are lying empty while children grow up in hotel rooms without access to play areas or, in many cases, a desk at which to do their homework.

I raised in this House previously the situation of a woman who is in emergency accommodation with her family. She can see the estate she comes from, and would love to live in again, through the window of the hotel. There are two houses on the street she grew up on that have been boarded up for three years. I ask the Minister of State not to tell us his policy is working. He is aware of the houses I mentioned.

Local authorities such as Limerick City Council should be funded to do their job.

Instead their efforts are met with red tape and a lot of underfunding, leaving these homes vacant, often for years. Funding of €11,000 per home is far short of what is needed to ensure these homes are safe and welcoming for new tenants and that is the problem. The more than 2,656 vacant council houses across the State must be ready for occupation.

The motion calls for an average turnaround time of 12 weeks to be met by every local authority. Crucially, local authorities must be given leeway to proceed with refurbishments without the need for housing Department approval on every single house. This should occur all year round and there should be no blockages on that. We need a dedicated annual maintenance fund to allow local authorities to recoup the cost of upgrading existing stock, including vacant homes. We should also allow councils to plan for when people are moving out of a house so someone can move in pretty soon afterwards instead of three, four or five years later.

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