Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I could go through many of these in my area but it would serve only to illustrate that we will not make the same mistakes again. For example, local authorities introduced certain changes willy-nilly and I am unsure whether they were sanctioned by the Department. Since they did not have sufficient planners to inspect sites, they introduced self-certification. This meant one simply sent in drawings and the planners in the local authority would approve them although they were never on-site. The repercussions of this have been great indeed.

In the area I represent, Donaghmede, a development consisting of 76 apartments was built. The city council bought 16 of the apartments and the remainder were rented. After one year, it was discovered that these apartments were unsafe to live in. There were fire hazards and the apartments were unsafe structurally and so on. Everyone there had to be evacuated. Although the council purchased some of these apartments, it was not compliant.

In another unfortunate bone of contention in the area I represent there are 167 houses with a pyrite problem. Although it has not yet begun, a court case is likely in which the builder is blaming the quarry, claiming he received inferior materials for building. However, the quarry is blaming the builder for bad workmanship. This has been going on for the past four years. People have had to move out of their houses and be accommodated elsewhere while paying the mortgage. Some of these people had let rooms in the houses and they no longer have the income that generated. I met with HomeBond. It claimed it was not responsible for what took place in a quarry and that we must wait until the court case finishes. The builders maintain they do not have sufficient money to continue and they need money from HomeBond. They maintain the bottom line is that if they are pressed too hard they will simply go bankrupt and no one will get anything. I will hold a private discussion with the Minister of State about this matter at some stage.

I am simply illustrating some of the things that took place. No one cared and everyone did whatever they wanted to so long as the money came in and the kids were mentally conditioned to queue up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning. It was suggested that if they did not do so, they would never get a house because they would all be sold. That is exactly what happened. I do not like the phrase, "We are where we are", but we must deal with what is in front of us.

I am unsure whether it is factual but an official in the city council pointed out to me that the local authorities are still buying private houses in estates. This should be examined because it is pointless when there are so many vacant houses according to the figures in this report. Why is the city council still buying houses in housing estates when so many are empty? We have not come to grips with this problem.

Many people complain that local authority tenants are not as good as themselves. I do not buy that and I do not see any difference in where one comes from or what one does but the matter must be checked out. Allegations have been made concerning the manner in which subsidies are being paid out. They do not go to directly to landlords any more. There are allegations that the HSE disperses money to some tenants but that the tenants are in arrears. In other words, the money they receive from the HSE is spent on other things and the landlord is not paid. In other cases, tenants have informed the HSE they pay €600 but in fact they only pay the landlord €500; some people are making money in this way. I have investigated some cases and found this to be factual. We should move away from subsidised rental schemes and handouts from the HSE and the Department of Social Protection. The Minister of State is going in the right direction.

Earlier, Senator Coffey referred to unfinished estates. I know of many such estates and some weeks ago I visited one in particular. It was not in my constituency; it was in the countryside but I know a person living there. In that estate, the manhole covers were up, which is very dangerous. Some children tripped on them and an elderly person was injured. The builder has simply walked away but is still operating in a small way. He maintains he does not have the money to complete the works but the council maintains the money in the bond is not sufficient to complete the works either. The end result is that no one cares. In the cases I have outlined, which are factual, no one cares about those involved anymore. The perception is that the builders and the Government did as they pleased. I do not hold that this is true but I am pleased the Minister of State is making a genuine effort to improve this situation and I thank him. Earlier, I referred to speeches about who was bad in the past and so on but we must deal with the position now from here on in. Again I thank the Minister of State for his input into the report.