Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This is a crucial matter and the House is entitled to at least get reports of what is going on. We should not be left wondering. I will leave it at that and will not mention it again but I feel there is an issue here concerning how we do our business.

I also wish to raise the issue of the report yesterday from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government about building houses. Some 48,000 local authority houses were scheduled to be built over the past ten years but in the event only 37,000 were constructed. Therefore, 10,000 more houses could have been built. I do not know about the rights and wrongs of this matter but I am appalled because we have raised the shortage of housing repeatedly in the House. Where is the problem here? This is another issue relating to what we discussed concerning Seanad reform. We could have close relations with groups, such as local authority representatives.

This is the second time I have made this suggestion to the Leader. I would like us to discuss housing with local authority representatives — the people who elect most of the Members here — to find the answer. Is there a problem with the process, the money or the way in which decisions are implemented?

For whatever reason, some 10,000 houses remain unbuilt which have been approved — money was allocated to build them, people are queuing up to live in them and they should be built. That cannot be right, so I would like the situation explained to us. Let us see where the problem lies so that we can deal with it. The Leader should invite the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who I am sure would be delighted to discuss it with us, to the House. I also wish to take the matter a step further by having a consultation process with local authority members who know the situation inside out. I do not pretend to know about it so let us have a discussion with them. We should grant them that level of recognition which, during our discussions with them over the past few years, we said we would. I look forward to the Leader's reply on those issues.