Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, and wish him well in his job as Minister of State with responsibility for housing. I have no doubt he has a deep interest in this aspect of local government. Although I have some misgivings, in general, I welcome the Bill. Its provisions will help to address some of the problems we face in the housing area.

In 1987 at a time of recession when Fine Gael and Labour went out of Government there was no waiting list for local authority houses. One can ask what has gone wrong in the past ten years given that when we had the greatest boom in the history of the State we have the longest housing waiting lists in every local authority.

It was brought to my attention recently that a number of local authorities are selling affordable homes but that they are overvalued. As a result, people do not know whether to buy them. The lifetime of some of those loans can be in excess of 20 years and purchasers may find that in ten or 15 years' time when they want to buy another home they may not realise the value. It is a sad state of affairs when people who work in fairly well paid jobs still cannot afford a home on the open market and must resort to buying an affordable home that is overvalued. The Minister of State should examine the matter.

In some towns — including one in my own county — many houses are boarded up. Action must be taken by the Government to tackle the problem. I do not know whether local authorities do not have the funding to deal with them. The figure of 15% of local authority houses being vacant is bandied around. That is a startling statistic at a time when so many are on waiting lists for local authority houses. I cannot understand why local authorities do not give priority to this housing stock. In Ballina a whole street of houses lie vacant and are boarded up, and that is also the case in Longford. One wonders if the cause is a lack of funding from the local authority, if it is not channelling the funds through and why these houses are vacant and cannot be turned around more quickly.

I raise the matter of the single rural house, which may not be an issue in every local authority but it is in my county, and the length of time it takes a local authority to proceed from processing an application to building it. In many cases it takes from three to five years. This needs to be addressed. Such houses are a necessary evil in many cases and there is a demand for them, especially in rural, isolated areas. These should be fast-tracked and they do not cause any great expense to a local authority. There are only one or two in most cases on an annual basis.

The case has been well made by Senators from all sides of the House for the provision of housing for single males, whether it is single or two-bedroom apartments. There is a lack of accommodation for such people. This matter should be examined urgently and funding should be put in place.

Under section 17 councillors can make a housing plan which is similar to local authority members making a county development plan. The plan must come before the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for approval. I am not happy with this section, as it may be the case that the Minister is not the only person unhappy with the plan. If a county manager is not happy with it, he will refer it to the Minister and his officials, who will take it upon themselves to change the plan to suit either the Minister or the county manager. This is not enhancing local democracy. If local authority members are given powers to make a housing plan for their area, the power and the consequences should lie with them.