Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, to the House. He is a not infrequent visitor to my area of Waterford and south Kilkenny. I am sure he is well aware of the serious cases of anti-social behaviour — criminality is probably a better word — which have taken place in Waterford in recent months. Some 14 houses have been burnt down, 11 of which were local authority houses, children have been shot at, cars have been rammed, large caches of weapons have been found by the Garda Síochána and even a pipe bomb was placed in one estate as a result of a feud between various families in the area. I pay tribute to the gardaí involved for their bravery, understanding and professionalism, and to the local authority staff and mediation services, who have done great work.

Can we imagine ordinary tenants, perhaps a son or daughter of ours, living in those estates and having to put up with this terrorism — I can think of no better word for it? To refer to Senator Glynn's point, I have been approached on numerous occasions by residents of such estates who are looking to move out or transfer because of the hassle and terror they and their children suffer as a result of these events.

While these are extreme cases, there are other ongoing cases. I am glad the Bill addresses anti-social behaviour because any local authority member to whom one speaks throughout the country has come across such cases. The Bill refers to violence, threats and intimidation. Unfortunately, these are commonplace in many estates throughout the country. We on this side of the House will not be found wanting in support for any measure, in any Bill, that will help to address these issues. It is a shame that decent, honest tenants throughout the length and breadth of the country are held to ransom by a small number of individuals who are causing distress to others.

It is certainly distress that is caused. The people who come to me, and I presume those who come to other representatives, are distressed. They are fearful for their families and their children. When they go home in the evening they do not know what is facing them regarding damage to their properties. This must be rooted out. The Minister will have support from all sides of the House for this. There will be do-gooders saying they have to be looked after the same as everybody else but everyone wants fair play. Anti-social behaviour is one of the largest problems in many, not just local authority, estates. It will have to be tackled.

The tenant purchase scheme allows for a maximum discount of 30%. There were more generous ones in the past. Perhaps the Minister could look at increasing the discount to allow people to purchase more local authority houses. Many people in the voluntary housing schemes, including Refocus, Cluid and Respond, are precluded from buying their houses. If they are funded by the State and local authorities, there should be some system for people living in those houses to purchase them. I ask the Minister to give some consideration to that matter.

Senator Norris mentioned repossessions. There have been approximately 300 repossessions recently. The mortgage allowance scheme provided for in the Bill could be a mechanism for people facing repossession to be referred to local authorities. There should be negotiations rather than the banks putting people on the side of the road. There could be some interaction with some of these schemes. I was never a lover of the share purchase scheme, and the mortgage allowance scheme is similar, but perhaps something can be done for the increasing numbers of people having their homes repossessed.

The issue of homelessness is not mentioned in the Bill. The Minister outlined his homeless strategy a number of weeks ago, but it is disappointing that there is little mention of homelessness in the Bill.

The money dried up months ago in Waterford City Council for housing aid for the elderly and the disabled person's grant, or housing adaptation grants as they are now called. I am sure it is the same in many local authorities around the country. These are some of the most vulnerable people in the community. I spoke to a couple who applied to have a shower put in instead of a bath; they are in their 70s and cannot get in or out of the bath, and it is dangerous for them. They applied for a grant for a shower, but they were told the money has dried up. There is no money for heating or various adaptation grants. Times are hard now — we have been told that — and after next week they will be even harder. We have prided ourselves in the past for looking after the elderly and people most in need, and I hope that continues into the future. These are the schemes that help those people.

The HSE had schemes but it does not seem to be looking after them any more. We are told it is finalising them and handing them on to local authorities. Will the money it was granted be handed to local authorities so that some of these people can be looked after? What is the position? There is a problem between the HSE and local authorities regarding the housing aid grant, and I ask the Minister to look into that.

There are more than 44,000 people on local authority lists for housing. It is a sad indictment of Government policy. We have a problem when marriages break down. Many males in their 40s and 50s are on housing lists, and that increases the amount that would not have been there heretofore. It must be addressed, perhaps by building apartments. It is predominantly men because women usually retain the house and children. The paper we received from the Oireachtas Library research committee mentioned that many private dwellings offered for rent are in a poor state of repair. There are many men in small flats who have visiting rights for their children, and they cannot bring children into them for a weekend. There is a need to look after these people, especially as there are so many of them on the housing list.

The Minister mentioned supporting the strengthening of local democracy. We support anything that strengthens local democracy, because over the last number of years we have seen the powers of local authorities being diluted in many ways. The Harbours (Amendment) Bill 2008 excludes local authority members. This has been a theme over the last number of years in various Bills. We can vote against it, but we need people from other sides of the House to stand up for local authority members and representatives. We support the strengthening of local democracy, but it must be an improvement on Better Local Government, which only benefitted the officials. The ordinary punter did not see any improvement in the provision of local services.