Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to contact the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. The Department has acquired quite a number of houses throughout the country for road construction and so forth. We have a number of them in our own county. These houses are lying idle and we have a housing shortage. There is a desperate need for housing on many fronts. There is also a need for housing for people who are caught up in the mica scandal. They need houses on a short-term basis, maybe for six to 12 months. These houses could be used for that type of thing. I ask the Leader to contact the Minister on this issue. The Department has quite a number of houses and they should be put back into stock. Some of them are very habitable and very good houses. It would not take a fortune to put them back into use. The Department should make a decision whether to dispose of them immediately or to do a rental situation itself whereby it could rent them out to people who are in dire need of housing at this time. It is crazy to think that a Government Department has houses it is not using when there is a huge shortage of housing.

I read in yesterday's newspaper that sheds for housing bicycles are a big issue in cities like Dublin. The Department should resolve that issue straight away. What sort of an issue is it that a garden shed can be used, whether it is in the back or the front? They should be able to make up their minds on the size of the shed immediately. There are families now with several bicycles in the house, for kids and for adults. People are cycling now and it is a growing industry. People need to put their bicycles in a secure locked up place every day when they are finished with them. This issue with the Department of the environment should be dealt with straight away. It is not a big issue for them to make a decision on it but it is taking quite a long time. I ask the Leader to contact the Minister to move this along and bring it to a conclusion. We saw yesterday how a woman got rid of her bicycles because she could not house them. It is a bit of a farce when you see that happening and the Department should move on it immediately.