Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. As he knows, there is an ongoing housing emergency throughout the State. I want to focus in particular on Limerick city and county. I will set the scene with a few factual statistics. We currently have 2,342 approved applications for housing. In addition, we have 335 transfer applications, 2,479 people on housing assistance payments and 735 on the rental assistance scheme. That gives us a total of 5,891 people on the housing list as of last September, a truly shocking total that does not fully demonstrate the extent of the housing crisis in Limerick because, as I hope the Minister of State will acknowledge, thousands more are excluded from qualifying for public housing because of the ridiculously low income threshold still in place under this Government.

As of November last, there were 246 homeless people in Limerick and 46 families homeless in the mid-west, comprising 56 adults and 77 children. The Minister of State will know that hubs in Limerick have been full for the majority of the past 12 months. There were no temporary emergency provision beds available in Limerick in November and, as far as I am aware, none have come online since. There has been no major turnaround in the number of people using temporary emergency provision services, which is contrary to the meaning of the word "temporary". The majority of those who are homeless are aged between 25 and 44 years. There are two issues. In most cases, they are not seen as a priority because they do not have children. Second, they are being priced out of the market by excessive rents. The average price for a one-bedroom apartment in Limerick city is now €999 per month. The average price for a three-bedroom house is now €1,277, an increase of 8% over the past year. The average cost of renting a single room in Limerick city centre is now €464, up a shocking 21% on a year ago.

It is against the backdrop of this crisis, insecurity and desperation that I have to ask the Minister of State how, according to the figures available which were highlighted by a Sunday newspaper at the weekend, there are 207 vacant council properties in Limerick? Is that the correct figure? I would appreciate clarification, because the last official figures I have state that there were 297 vacant properties in April this year. According to Limerick City and County Council, of those 73 required minor fixes, 102 required major fixes and 72 were considered derelict. How can the Government's priorities be so skewed as to have this many empty council properties at a time when we have an emergency crisis of the most unprecedented kind?

I understand that Limerick City and County Council is currently leasing 164 properties from vulture funds that, thanks to this Government, will collect rent tax free for the next 25 years. At the end of that period, not one single property will transfer into local authority ownership. Again, I have to ask the Minister of State about the Government's priorities. Why is it choosing to fund the leasing of homes from vulture funds rather than repairing and restoring council-owned houses?This means that right now more money is being pumped into an overheated private sector housing market rather than pumping it into council-owned properties that could provide rental income for Limerick City and County Council. The people of Limerick are genuinely wondering why we have so many vacant council properties in the midst of the worst housing crisis in the record of the State. I hope the Minister of State will be able to provide some answers.