Michael Bell
Question:7 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for the Environment the number of houses sanctioned and built (a) in Drogheda and (b) Dundalk, County Louth in each of the last ten years.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Louth Housing Statistics.
I assume the Deputy is referring to local authority houses. The numbers of houses which the two authorities were authorised to start each year from 1988 to 1991 were as follows:
|
1988 |
1989 |
1990 |
1991 |
|
|
Drogheda Corporation |
Nil |
8 |
20 |
12 |
|
Dundalk Urban District Council |
Nil |
16 |
10 |
12 |
Prior to 1988, a different system of allocating funds for new schemes was in operation and corresponding information for earlier years is not readily available. I refer to the reply to Question No. 218 of 19 April 1988 in regard to the numbers of completions for the years 1981 to 1987.
The numbers of completions for the years 1988, 1989 and 1990 for the two housing authorities were as follows:
|
1988 |
1989 |
1990 |
|
|
Drogheda Corporation |
4 |
— |
8 |
|
Dundalk Urban District Council |
10 |
— |
1 |
Dismal.
Will the Minister acknowledge that Drogheda and Dundalk are the two largest provincial towns in the country and that the housing waiting lists there have now reached an all time high? Will the Minister agree that the level of house provision in those two towns is totally inadequate to deal with housing needs now and in the future? Will he give serious consideration to sanctioning the remaining applications by those two local authorities?
I accept that the number on the waiting lists for the two towns has been increasing, particularly in relation to Drogheda. For that reason I introduced a social housing plan. I will give consideration to the matter raised.
Will the Minister accept that the situation in Drogheda and Dundalk is a mirror image of the situation in virtually every town in the country? Will the Minister accept now that the plan for social housing published earlier this year was a dismal failure and not a solution to the mass of housing problems we have here?
As this is a specific question I cannot allow an extension of it now. I am proceeding to Question No. 8 in the Deputy's name.