asked the Minister for Local Government if he has revised his target of 8,000 local authority houses this year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Housing Programme.
5.
There was no such target this year.
Good. Now we are getting the truth.
Fan go fóill. The Deputy will be aware that one of the first actions taken by the National Coalition Government on assuming office was to increase by £5 million the capital provisionally allocated by the former Government for local authority housing construction in the current year to secure the maximum output—6,500 units—which could be obtained from the on-going programme as we found it. The former Government had made capital provision for only 5,400 local authority houses in 1972-73.
The Government announced its intention of increasing local authority housing construction to a level of 8,000 completions per annum as soon as possible. Having regard to the inadequate provision in the past by the former Government of reserves of land and infrastructural services in areas of high housing demand, I am advised that it is not likely that the target of 8,000 will be reached until the end of the year after next.
I would expect the Minister to be honest in his replies to Questions in the House.
I object to Deputy Molloy's implication.
We can sort it out between us, here and now.
The Deputy must not attribute to the Minister that he told a lie.
He did not say that.
They are very thin-skinned opposite.
Did the Minister quote a figure of 5,400 houses for 1972-73?
That is correct.
Does the Minister not know that in the booklet published by the Government The Capital Budget at page 19 it is stated that the number of local authority dwellings completed in 1972-73 was 5,750, not 5,400?
I am talking about 1973-74. This year.
Would the Minister repeat that part of the reply?
"The former Government had made capital provision for only 5,400 local authority houses in 1972-73." That is incorrect. I am sorry. That is a typing error.
To refer to the provision that was made at the start of the financial year and the eventual out-turn in that year is not, I submit to the Minister, an honest and fair way of dealing with the question of mine in the House. The important figure is the number of houses that were completed and those houses were financed by the former Government and the figure was not 5,400, it was 5,700.
We cannot have a debate on this matter.
The capital provision for local authority housing in 1973-74 made by the previous Government was £27 million and this amount would only have been sufficient to sustain an output of 5,400 dwellings. Deputy Molloy cannot get away from that.
Question No. 6.
The figures mentioned by the Minister in his reply are a roundabout way of trying to distract the House from the facts.
Could we have a supplementary question?
As the Minister knows, the number of houses completed last year was well in excess of that.
He thinks he is still a Minister.
(Interruptions.)
The point I want to have established, and I think the Minister has established it quite clearly in his reply, is that in referring to a target of 8,000 houses he has tried to mislead the community——
This is Question Time. I cannot allow statements to be made. The Deputy will have an opportunity of discussing this matter at a later stage.
——because he now states the facts, that it would not have been possible to build 8,000 houses with the money the Minister made available.
I did not say I would build 8,000 houses. I would challenge Deputy Molloy to produce anywhere evidence that I said we would build 8,000 local authority houses this year. He is conjuring up an Aunt Sally to knock down himself. He had enough Aunt Sallys which he knocked down during the last few years.
If the Minister is happy that he is not building 8,000 houses that is all right. We just want facts.
Is the Minister aware that in Cork there are 48 local authority houses available for occupation that cannot be occupied on account of the council engineers' strike there?
That is a different matter.
Surely it refers to the housing target? Is the Minister aware of the situation and will he take immediate steps to make sure that something is done urgently so that these houses can be made available?
If the Deputy can relate that to the question he can do a great deal.
6.
asked the Minister for Local Government the number of dwellings completed in each year from 1969-70 to 1972-73.
7.
asked the Minister for Local Government the number of dwellings begun or authorised for each year from 1969-70 to 1972-73.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together and, as the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, to have it circulated with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
|
Financial year |
Number of dwellings begun or authorised |
*Number of dwellings completed |
|
1969-70 |
15,228 |
13,644 |
|
1970-71 |
20,606 |
13,671 |
|
1971-72 |
21,627 |
15,921 |
|
1972-73 |
32,797 |
21,647 |
*NOTE: The number of houses regarded as having been completed in a year is based, amongst other information, on the number of new house grants paid in that year. The accuracy of the figures in relation to any year can, therefore, be affected by an exceptional delay in paying grants for completed houses. For example, approximately 2,000 new house grants which matured for payment in 1971-72 were not paid until 1972-73. Actual completions were probably of the order of 17,921 in 1971-72 and 19,647 in 1972-73.
8.
asked the Minister for Local Government the number of dwellings begun or authorised between 1st April and 30th September, 1972, and the corresponding period in 1973.
9.
asked the Minister for Local Government the number of dwellings completed between 1st April and 30th September, 1972, and in the corresponding period in 1973.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together.
The number of dwellings begun or authorised and completed between the 1st April and the 30th September, 1972, were 13,251 and 10,148 respectively. Information on the total number of dwellings begun or authorised and completed in the corresponding period of the current financial year is not yet available.
The number of private houses completed has increased substantially over the level of building last year. A total of 8,684 new house grants were paid by the Department in the period from 1st April last to 30th September this year as compared with 6,946 in the corresponding period last year.