I would like to welcome the Minister to the House and to raise the situation of the worsening housing crisis which is developing in the Dún Laoghaire-South Dublin area. I am glad the Minister is here and I am hoping that, in the light of what I have to say, he will be able to give a certain commitment in relation to the problem.
In the general Dún Laoghaire-South Dublin area our housing lists have been growing. They have growing over a number of years as extra applicants of different categories who, for obvious monetary reasons, cannot house themselves, come on the lists. Over a number of years very few houses have been constructed. We are now reaching a crisis situation in relation to very bad living conditions. A variety of people are involved. There are people who got married, have a couple of small children and are living with their parents. They are living in three bedroomed houses. There may be nine, ten or 12 people living in one house. Obviously, given the age mix and the fact that different sexes are involved it is a most unsatisfactory situation. Elderly people who have not got the means to pay rent are now coming on to our housing lists. We have also single parent applicants and we have middle-aged people. In recent times, people who, perhaps, have had their houses repossessed due to the excessive interest rates have been coming on to the lists.
I would like to give the Minister a few facts and figures in relation to the present Dún Laoghaire situation. On 31 January 1990, there were 402 applicants on the list. This included a general list with 114 applicants on it and that included travelling families. There were 101 people on the elderly list. There was 136 on the single parent list and there were 51 on the middle age list. By the end of March that had grown to 426, made up as follows: 117 on the general list, which included ten travelling families; 108 on the elderly list; 144 on the single parent list and 57 on the middle-aged list. We can see that in a matter of a couple of months it has grown by over 20. The position in Dún Laoghaire is that we have a promise this year of 25 houses. You could say, "not bad", if we got them; it would at least be a start. I am sure my colleague on Dún Laoghaire Corporation would agree with me. Senator Conroy obviously knows the seriousness of the situation. We are into May and no sanction has been given. I would ask the Minister if sanction will be given. If it does not come shortly, we will not get any houses built this year.
There are many schemes in the Ministers Department at the moment — and I am going to list a few of them — going back a couple of years and no sanction has been given for them or, if it has, perhaps further questions have been raised. We are not living in Utopia; we know the Minister has to exist within a budget but at least if we saw some commitment that at least this year so many houses would be built and next year so many, at least we could say to people who continually come to our clinics trying to get out of unhappy situations, trying to get out of over-priced, damp private accommodation, that there was some hope for the future.
I would ask the Minister whether there is any hope that some of the schemes in his Department will be sanctioned? I do not expect him to be able to wave a magic wand and make houses suddenly mushroom up, but if we do not have some orderly planning and some orderly plan to work towards, the situation which is developing, both in Dún Laoghaire Corporation and in Dublin County Council, in the general south Dublin-Dún Laoghaire areas is going to gradually worsen.
I will just mention a few of the things. In May 1988 a scheme at Dunedin for 14 houses was submitted. Further details were requested at the end of March 1990. Two years later the Department have come back again. I do not know what went on in the meantime. Has the Minister any light to throw on that? In relation to a scheme for 11 houses at Rockford, Stradbrook Road, plans and proposals were submitted in July 1988 for sanction. No word since. What has happened? Can he given an indication of when a decision will be made? Another scheme was sent in some months ago for Aran Avenue. Another scheme for three houses went in in June 1989. There was another one that went in in February 1988 in relation to refurbishing flats.
The other end of the problem is that when houses become vacant, due to the cutback in the grant, there is no money or no men to carry out some of the necessary repairs. This means that houses are being left vacant for longer and longer. Could the Minister give some commitment to try to get some sort of a crash programme to refurbish some of these houses so that they are not left vacant and so that people can get back into them fairly quickly? We have good plans for various refurbishment programmes to try to do away with some of the houses which, in the nineties, are unacceptable, houses with outside toilets or houses with no bathrooms. We should all aspire to people at least having what I suppose any of us here in this House would take for granted, a bath. Would the Minister look at the housing schemes that are there and the refurbishment programme to see what the situation is? I do not expect him to wave a magic wand and sanction all the schemes and put up a couple of hundred houses overnight. What we would like from him is an acknowledgment that he is aware of and concerned about the situation that people are finding themselves in at the moment. We must have a plan there and be able to work towards at least controlling our housing lists.
I ask the Minister to look at the various schemes both from Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire Corporation. I understand nine houses are proposed to be built in the county area this year — 50 in total in the county and nine in the south Dublin region. I hope we can say to our many constituents that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that the Minister will take some people out of very unhealthy situations, whether it is in overcrowded families which leads to marriage difficulties and to friction and that we will go at least some way down the road towards solving the problem.
We made great strides back in the seventies and the eighties in getting down the housing lists to relatively acceptable proportions. They are growing again, they are mushrooming and they are going to get out of control if they are not out of control already. I ask the Minister to give us a commitment about what will be sanctioned this year. Can he tell us that one or two of these schemes will be sanctioned? Can he tell us how much is going to be sanctioned for next year? Can he also indicate that perhaps some vacant houses will be let at a lesser cost? All some of them need is doing up, rewiring. It all costs money, but less than building new houses. Perhaps he could give a special initial boost towards helping out that situation.
I am just trying to see how many houses were vacant. During March 1990 183 complaints came in. There were all sorts of minor repairs. The number of dwellings vacant at the end of February 1990 was 62. The number which became vacant during March 1990 was ten and the number of dwellings which were re-let during March 1990 was 16. We are failing to get to grips with the fact that some houses are becoming vacant. If we could get 40 or 50 of these re-let relatively quickly, at least we would be making an impression on the list and it is important that we go some way down towards improving the situation.
Would the Minister indicate in relation to the points I have made, firstly, what is going to be sanctioned for this year? Can Dún Laoghaire Corporation have 25 houses they have been promised? Will he sanction that reasonably quickly? He is no doubt too well aware that we are into the building season now and there is no point in his sanctioning it next October or November. I would also ask him if he can give us some information in relation to the other schemes. I do not know whether he can give us a full report here today, but perhaps he could come back to me in relation to it. I hope he will accept from what I have said that a serious situation now exists. He is now fully aware of it for himself and I would ask him to respond positively to it.
