Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Many of the points I wanted to make have been made already. I thank the Minister of State for attending and making his presentation. In fairness, a lot of work has been done by comparison with three or four years ago. It is important that we recognise not only the work of the Ministers and the Department but also the local authorities. One of the problems with local authorities over recent years concerns staffing levels and the expertise required. There was a feeling among staff that, no matter how hard they worked on preparing plans, there would not be money available. It was believed a real effort was not made to make progress on many things that should have been done at a time when we did not have money.

In my local authority area, that of Cork City Council, there are 19 individual sites identified. A number of them have been opened up and work on one has been completed already. Progress is being made on a number of others. I hope that, over the next 12 to 18 months, an additional 400 houses will be available in Cork city alone. Many other local authorities are following suit.

In addition to considering housing, we also need to examine the question of ensuring that there are adequate services available where we build houses, especially where they are built in considerable numbers. I am concerned because I have just seen a planning application being lodged for 230 apartments in an urban setting but with no plans at all for back-up amenities and sports and recreational facilities. We seem to be falling down in respect of joined-up thinking about having all the amenities available in an area, including schools.

A relative of mine working in Edinburgh had to refurbish 200 old army houses. At the same time as refurbishing, a plan had to be produced setting out how many new families would move into the area. Extensions to the schools had to be built at the same time as the housing was being made available. Here we talk about building schools and other amenities three, four, five and six years after building the houses. Sometimes the affected children are teenagers by the time we have any of this work done. Consequently, we need to have much more joined-up thinking.

A great deal of progress has been made on ensuring that local authorities are working effectively. My colleague referred to the disability sector. Let me refer to one area in Cork in respect of which I have worked very hard. I am glad to say €2.5 million has been allocated this year and that 42 houses which need to be adapted by the local authority will be adapted.Previously, in any one year, on average, only six or seven adaptations were completed by Cork City Council and there was an eight-year waiting list for people who have a disability to get work done. I am delighted that money has been made available.

We need to look urgently at the long-term rental issue and the lack of security for those renting in the private sector. I know changes have been made but there is still a major concern for young families in private rented accommodation who are trying to save, pay rent and have their children going to a local school. They do not know when the letter will come in the door or the meeting will happen where they might be given six months' or even 12 months' notice that they have to move out of their accommodation. We need to move towards long-term letting because there is a whole cohort who will not get on the housing ladder and will not qualify for local authority loans or housing. That group has not been looked after and we need to do something on this issue soon. A significant number of people are caught in this trap. They have young families and want to stay in the area where their children are going to school. If they move out of their existing accommodation, they will not get a suitable alternative in the area which causes significant problems for them. We need to look at this issue urgently.

On the roll-out of private sector housing projects, we need to ensure all the boxes for the provision of services, such as roads, water or sewers, are ticked adequately and fast enough. Local authorities seem to be taking too long to react to putting in place services for developments to move on. We need to look at that. In one project in Cork, for instance, the local authority owns land on which 600 houses can be built. The provision of services for this site will cost €9.5 million. We should not have to wait until this time next year for that project to start. We need houses urgently. We should do everything possible to ensure funding is provided to local authorities to roll out these services to allow the private sector kick into place. We can then, if necessary, acquire some of those houses in those developments for local authority housing.

I thank the Minister of State for the work done. We need to do a lot more and a lot faster, however.