Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I heard my fellow Senators raise two issues. Senators Conway-Walsh and Dolan sought to call the Taoiseach in today to discuss two noble causes. I passed a novelty sock shop around the corner. I imagine the Senators would have a better chance of getting him there today than they would of seeing him in the Seanad. In any event, I will move on to more serious matters. That was merely a light-hearted suggestion for the Leader.

The housing crisis is one of the largest crises facing our country at present. There are up on 500 registered housing associations but many more are operating in Ireland at present. Many of these are sitting on pretty and large bank balances. I am aware of one that is sitting on over €2 million. That is only one of which I am aware and with which I had some interaction. Some of them are working hard but many are unproductive and are sitting on a lot of money belonging to the State.

I will move on to the second aspect of this matter. Councils should be rewarded in the context of the block grants they get to run their services and everything else. These include the block grants relating to roads that come from the Government and the Department. One of the criteria should be connected to the housing they are providing at present. The grants should definitely be paid on that basis.

There are two areas that we could squeeze and where we have to get more productivity if we are to address the housing crisis. The former Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, had a very long-term plan and he put considerable work into it. We are where we are in the context of housing. We cannot say that the previous Minister did not try, but it is simply not working. We have to start at the base. The councils have the land. If they say they do not have the resources, then these can be provided through the block grant from the Government. That would be one of the quickest ways to address this problem. It is a matter of starting from the ground up and dealing with issues that are feeding into our housing problem. Moreover, we have to make the housing organisations more accountable. We have to discover what assets they possess. We have to make these people who are not working their assets sweat them a little harder.