Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 399: To ask the Minister for Defence the current total number of Army overholders; his proposals to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6944/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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As I indicated in my reply to the Deputy's Parliamentary Question No. 67 on 12 October 2004, personnel on being discharged from the Permanent Defence Force are obliged to vacate married quarters within a short period of the dates of their discharge. The provision of housing is primarily a matter for the local authorities and married military personnel have an equal claim on such housing as other members of the community in the same income category.

The individuals overholding 54 married quarters — 51 at the Curragh, two at McKee Park, Dublin 7, and one at Arbour Hill, Dublin 7 — were written to in August 2002 and requested to vacate the properties. In the Curragh, eight of the quarters have been vacated to date and three others have been purchased by the occupants. A further eight of the properties have been offered for sale and a number of those sales are likely to be finalised in the near future. The three properties in Dublin have also been offered for sale to the occupants.

My Department is continuing to examine all options, including affordable housing and voluntary and co-operative housing schemes, in relation to the rehousing of those overholders who would in the normal way be eligible for local authority housing. The Department remains in contact with the overholders pending resolution of the issue.