Vol. 242 No. 8
asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware that people are jumping the Dublin Corporation housing queue by squatting in corporation houses; and if he will introduce legislation to give power to Dublin Corporation to evict squatters immediately.
30.
asked the Minister for Local Government the number of families known to be squatting in Dublin Corporation houses at the latest available date.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 29 and 30 together.
I am aware that persons are squatting in Dublin Corporation houses. As, however, housing authorities are not required to notify me of details, I am not aware of the numbers involved. In so far as legislation is concerned, I would refer the Deputy to section 62 of the Housing Act, 1966, which provides that where there is no tenancy in a house and the occupier refuses to give up possession, the housing authority may apply to the district court for a warrant for possession. The section provides that the court, on being satisfied that demand for the house has been duly made, shall issue the warrant. When the corporation learn that a person is squatting in one of their dwellings, they immediately institute proceedings under these or other provisions. However, a period of time inevitably elapses in some cases before squatters are dispossessed.
Houses are allocated by local authorities under a carefully established and democratically decided order of priorities. While I recognise the human factors involved in the problem, I must add that it would be most unfair to families to whom houses have properly been allocated by local authorities to allow these priorities to be set aside by agitators and publicists exploiting genuine housing difficulties for their own disruptive ends, who encourage families awaiting rehousing to jump the queue by breaking the law, by illegal entry, and by violence. Any concession to these methods could only result in chaos and the gravest injustice in that houses would go to those who could exercise the greatest force rather than to those in greatest need.
Can the Minister indicate the approximate time between the introduction of proceedings for the eviction of squatters and their actual eviction?
This depends on the operations of the courts. I have not any figures for the average time it takes.
Will the Minister not agree that the answer is to provide more houses and that the problem lies with the Fianna Fáil Government who are not providing enough houses? Over 10,000 families are on the waiting list. The Minister's Government's record is the worst in Europe.
The answer is not to support this campaign by people outside this House who mainly, as far as I know, are trying to disrupt the housing programme in this manner and are trying to deprive people of houses which have been allocated to them on the basis of need——
The answer is to build more houses.
The Minister has failed to answer the second part of my question about new legislation to deal with squatters. He has merely mentioned section 62 of the 1966 Housing Act.
The procedure of that legislation seems to me to be as effective and as speedy as it could possibly be.
In other words, the Minister will not introduce new legislation?
I do not think there is any need to do so. It is provided that a warrant shall be issued in these circumstances. It is only right that they should go to the courts in these cases.
The reason for some cases—I emphasise "some"—is because of defects in the priority scheme. Would the Minister consider reviewing that scheme where it can be shown to have defects which involve such injustice that people are driven to this action?
I am not aware of any case in which that is so. On the contrary, I repeat that this problem arises because of the activities of people of ill-will, people who are not interested in the solution of the housing problem but in disruption for its own sake.
Including people in Holy Orders?
Yes, certainly.
Accepting that what the Minister says is generally true, nevertheless, in some cases there is a different kind of problem. If the Minister is not aware that there are difficulties in the priority system would he accept particulars if they are given to him?
If the Deputy can show me any instance in which the system of allocating houses is faulty, I shall have it examined.
Would the Minister make available a booklet on letting priorities to everybody on the housing list? I have asked for this before. It is a six-page booklet. I was told the cost would be too much. If it were made available then the people would know exactly where they stand.
They would not have the information to enable them to assess the factors applying in other cases as well as in their own.
Why could particulars of the scheme of letting priorities not be made available? Is the Minister saying that all of the people are ignorant?
The questions refer to the number and eviction of squatters.
And that involves housing.
We cannot discuss the whole housing problem on this question.
I think we should discuss the whole housing problem.
