Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will ensure that all current overholders at the Curragh in County Kildare may remain in their current residence for the duration of the current housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21737/15]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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My question deals with the issue of overholders at the Curragh camp. A small number of overholders remain at the camp and my question focuses on the housing crisis that exists both nationally and in County Kildare. I ask if, at least for the duration of the housing crisis, the Minister and his Department will desist from pressurising people out of their homes on the Curragh camp.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Personnel who leave the Defence Forces or who vacate a married quarter property that had been assigned to them are required under regulations to return vacant possession of that property. Where the property is not vacated, those remaining in the property are overholding and, as they have no right under military regulations to hold or reside in military accommodation, the Department will in accordance with normal procedures continue to seek to recover possession from them. While each case of overholding is dealt with on an individual basis, it is important to remember that the Department does not have a role in the provision of housing accommodation for the general public. The Department does however assist in whatever way it can in order to resolve the cases of overholding without recourse to legal action, as it is preferable not to have to use legal means to obtain vacant possession of the properties concerned. If individuals are not in a position to secure housing in their own right, it may be the case that they qualify for social housing or that they qualify for some level of housing assistance and, when requested to do so, the Department provides whatever documentation it can to support such applications.

The Deputy can be assured that my Department will deal with any overholders in a vulnerable position in a sensitive manner and will where possible work with the local authorities to help find solutions to the current overholding problem with due consideration. What I cannot do, though, is to give the Deputy a blanket commitment that everybody can stay in their property if they want to, until the pressures on housing demand ease.

That is essentially saying that after people leave the Defence Forces, even in a military camp, they can stay in the accommodation they have been in while in the Defence Forces. There are all sorts of reasons we cannot do that.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the Minister's goodwill on this matter. However, there is a certain irony, if not an element of the perverse, in what we see happening. The Minister responded very positively in respect of the national homelessness crisis in the aftermath of the death of Jonathan Corrie outside this House. I raised the issue with him at an Estimates meeting and he responded positively, stating that his Department would take action. In fact, he made St. Bricin's hospital available to deal with the homelessness situation. Is it not extraordinary that he has moved to deal with the homelessness situation in Dublin, while at the same time, during this crisis, his Department is forcing people out of properties in the Curragh Camp and thereby contributing to the homelessness problem in Kildare, where 6,500 people are on the waiting list and 250 people are currently homeless or at risk of homelessness? He is moving people out of these houses so that the houses can be knocked down or boarded up.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will know that the housing challenges faced by Kildare County Council can hardly be put on me. We have tried to be as helpful as we can in respect of people who are still in properties they should legally have vacated a long time ago in most cases. They knew that when they joined the Defence Forces. They knew the rules. We are not putting anybody out of houses and onto the streets, so let us not allow that impression to get out. We have said that we will look at each case individually. If people are in a vulnerable position we will take that into account, as we have been doing. We will talk to Kildare County Council to try to prioritise housing if people want to go on the housing list. However, we cannot maintain a position whereby, because it is expensive or difficult to find a house, non-members of the Defence Forces can stay indefinitely in a barracks. Even for security reasons, there are issues with that. We will try to be as accommodating and helpful as we can, but we must recognise that the Department of Defence is not a housing organisation.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The people who have lived on the Curragh Camp, going back before the establishment of the State, were people who had an intrinsic connection with the Defence Forces. The camp was not just an army camp; it was a garrison settlement. The Minister's predecessors, including people from my party, were wrong when they signed up to a policy of depopulation of the Curragh Camp. We can have a lengthy debate about that some other time, but currently there is a shortage of houses in County Kildare. I accept that an economic contribution should be made to the Minister's Department by anybody occupying a house, but if the Minister forces people out of the accommodation they have in the Curragh they will inevitably move towards homelessness, because Kildare County Council has nothing to offer them, no matter how much the Minister talks to it. Homelessness is inevitable.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Just so that the facts are clear, of the 27 overholders in the Curragh, ten are not paying rent and five of those are not paying any electricity charges either. This is a small number of people and properties. I will not be hounding people out of their homes. However, when people join the Defence Forces and move into married quarters, they know they are supposed to hand over that property within three weeks of leaving the Defence Forces.

In many cases, we have gone way beyond that timeline. There is a difficulty in terms of finding alternative accommodation, and we have tried to be accommodating and understanding in that regard but there are limits, and I simply cannot give the impression here that we will ignore this reality for as long as it takes for there to be an improvement in the social housing lists in Kildare, which could be indefinite. I take on board what the Deputy is saying but he should not-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is not very optimistic about that situation.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I must call the next speaker.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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-----ask me to do the impossible.