Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 16 Nov 1999

Vol. 510 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Housing Allocations.

Mr. Durkan:

I am very saddened to have to bring this matter to the attention of the House. It relates to Question No. 195 of 6 October wherein I asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of houses allocated to tenants by various local authorities on a county by county basis, including urban and rural areas; the number of families on the housing lists in these areas and if the Minister would make a statement on the matter. It was a simple question which deserved a simple and careful answer, particularly at this time. The Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, said

Details of lettings by local authorities are published in my Department's housing statistics bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library. Details of the results of the assessment of housing needs undertaken by local authorities until the end of March last were released yesterday and are available in the Oireachtas Library.

I do not know whether that was contempt for the House, the people on the housing lists or the Member who asked the question. It is no reflection on the Minister of State, Deputy Dan Wallace, who is here to respond to this matter but it is a sad reflection on the Minister of State who deigned to answer a parliamentary question in that fashion. I have been a Member of this House for a number of years, although not as long as the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy. Any Member asking a serious question about a serious issue is entitled to get a detailed and serious answer. Maybe the Minister of State was not prepared to answer the question or was embarrassed by the nature of the reply, but that is not my problem.

I listened with interest to the Minister of State today while he indicated to the Opposition that two and half years ago, it was responsible. Two and a half years before that, he and his former colleagues were responsible. Be that as it may, whoever is responsible at this time needs to recognise that the number of people who require housing, as a matter of urgency, is serious. All the billions in the national development plan and the grandiose notions in the world will do nothing in terms of embellishing the issue.

The Minister of State, in his reply to the parliamentary question, did not fully realise the serious nature of the issue as far as those in need of housing are concerned. I am not talking only about people who are unemployed but also about people who are employed, who have reasonably good jobs – public service and private sector jobs – and who have a reasonably high income but who have no chance of obtaining a house in the foreseeable future. I would have thought given that background and that the Minister of State has spent the past two and half years looking at the issue, but never dealing with the problem, he would have had the manners to come to the House tonight to respond to the matter because that is what he should have done.

If the Minister is really serious about the issue he should look at it again and ask himself whether he should have answered the question in the first instance. There is a growing tendency among some Ministers to try to avoid answering parliamentary questions and to answer them in such a way as to consider it smart to have got away with the answer. There is no smart way to get away without answering a parliamentary question. History should sufficiently illustrate that to all and sundry.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace):

I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this matter and apologise for the unavoidable absence of the Minister. As the Deputy outlined, the question asked was as follows:

To ask the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of houses allocated to tenants by the various local authorities on a county by county basis, including urban as well as rural areas; the number of families on the housing waiting list in these areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

In the reply to the question, the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, informed the Deputy that details of lettings by local authorities were published in the Department's housing statistics bulletins and, in relation to matters relating to housing needs, that details of the results of the assessment undertaken by local authorities at the end of March last had been released on the previous day and that the entire assessment had been placed in the Library for the information of Deputies.

It is a long established practice in the Department, when replying to questions requesting detailed statistical information, to refer in the replies to published documents or sources of information available in the Library. Of course, in any case where statistical information is sought which is available in the Department and has not already been published the Department will, where sufficient time is available, compile the necessary information and will include it in the reply.

The Department's housing statistics bulletins are published on a quarterly basis and contain a vast amount of information on housing matters, including housing output, housing mortgage finance, house prices, activity under the various social housing schemes and progress on local authority housing programmes. The published results of the assessment of housing needs contained a detailed commentary on the results of the assessment as well as background information on the undertaking of the assessment and six tables which set out the detailed results of the assessment. The information, therefore, which was placed in the Library was very comprehensive and would be of great assistance to any Deputy consulting the material.

The practice of referring in a reply to parliamentary question to extensive and detailed information published by the Department and placed in the Library is wholly appropriate. I reiterate that my colleagues and I will always endeavour to make available in replies any unpublished data which is available to my Department. It will remain the practice to include in replies published data which are relatively brief and germane to the issue raised in the question.