Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week we heard many announcements regarding budgets and budget spending. We were told that never have we spent so much before and so on and so forth. You can imagine my reaction when I was contacted by a family in Castleconnell who are residents of a council house and whose shower has completely broken down after 15 years. I wrote to Limerick City and County Council and explained the situation. I received a reply yesterday evening which stated that, due to funding constraints, housing maintenance is not currently in a position to upgrade bathrooms but that it may be in a position to contribute to upgrade works in early 2022. The council went on to state that if the tenant could supply a new toilet, cistern, shower tray and wash-hand basin, then housing maintenance could ring-fence funding to complete the works. I would love to have an explanation for that. Can you imagine a private landlord writing back to a tenant and telling them if they supplied half the equipment, then he or she would do the job? That is the response that Limerick City and County Council is giving to council tenants. Words fail me.

In this time of abundance and unparalleled spending by Government, it appears that our local authorities do not have the money to maintain decency. I am talking about a family of seven. There is a hole in their kitchen ceiling. Yet, Limerick City and County Council is telling the family that if they supply all the equipment, it will get the work done. Is that acceptable or reasonable, or is it just plain outrageous? Why is it that council tenants in my county are being treated as second-class citizens? It is shocking.

I want a debate on local authority funding. I acknowledge that Sinn Féin included a lot more on this issue in its pre-budget submission. We stated that €30 million should be invested in this area next year and that annual funding for the regeneration and upgrading of social housing stock should be increased to €100 million per year. My God, there is something fundamentally wrong when a family of seven cannot have a shower and the council tells them that they should supply the equipment in order to have the work required carried out.