Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Cathaoirleach knows, I have spoken many times here about the housing crisis in Limerick but today I want to raise the housing crisis in Cork. On my many visits to Cork in recent weeks, I was genuinely shocked by the number of vacant houses, particularly in Cork city. There are over 500 right now in areas like Mayfield, Farranree, the Glen, Togher, and Carrigaline. Many of the people I spoke to, along with my colleague, Deputy Gould, told me these houses have been vacant for months and, in some cases, years. All this is happening when there are 7,500 people on the housing list in Cork city. This is an insult to so many of our young people, particularly young parents stuck on the housing list, who can do nothing but watch the condition of perfectly good homes deteriorate by the day.A recent report by the National Oversight and Audit Commission found that it takes Cork City Council on average 58 weeks to turn around a vacant council home. Council houses in Cork are left idle, vulnerable to vandalism or to rot for more than 14 months before the council fixes them up. That is scandalous. Ireland has repeatedly been found to be in breach of European law because of the substandard condition of our council housing and the European Committee of Social Rights has found Ireland to be consistently in breach of Article 16 of the European Social Charter. I was shocked at the number of houses that have damp, mould and broken gutters. They are perfectly good houses but there is a complete lack of maintenance in those communities which, frankly, have been forgotten about in large part.

All this is happening under a Government that until recently had three senior Ministers from Cork in Cabinet. How has this been allowed to happen on their watch? It is further evidence of the failure of the Government on housing. There is a particular failure in Cork. This is another example of why we need a new Government. I ask for a debate on the issue and for the Minister for housing to urgently tell us why this is happening. The message I am getting loud and clear is that a lack of Government funding of the local council has allowed this crisis to deteriorate and get even worse. It puts the lie to all this nonsense about Housing for All. Housing for All is not delivering for the people of Cork. People only have to go to these estates to see it first-hand. I was genuinely shocked at the number of boarded-up houses. It is not good enough. We need an urgent debate on the matter.