asked the Minister for the Environment the total number of new houses, both local authority and others which will be built this year and in 1989; the number of people on housing waiting lists throughout the country; the total housing budget which is available to cope with that demand; if he anticipates the inevitability of a housing crisis; and the emergency action he proposes to take to deal with this threat.
Ceisteanna — Questions Oral Answers. - Housing Statistics.
60.
I estimate that a total of approximately 16,000 new houses will be built in 1988 and the indications are that at least the same level of completions as in 1988 will be achieved in 1989. The number of approved applicants on local authority waiting lists at 31 December 1987 was down to 18,561 compared to almost 30,000 in 1982. The need represented by the current figure is less acute than it has been in the past. The capital allocation for local authority housebuilding in 1988 is £36 million. The Deputy's fears of a housing crisis are groundless.
The Minister said that the housing situation is less acute than it has been in the past. Does he accept that significant reductions in capital allocation for housing and growing housing waiting lists, which are a feature in most parts of the country at present, inevitably mean that a crisis of some kind in housing will occur and that in a sense he is simply being penny wise and pound foolish, as it were? Surely the Minister must accept the evidence he is getting from councillors in various local authorities who will be preparing their estimates in the coming months?
I cannot accept that. I have had independent consultant's advice on the matter quite recently to the effect that the level of completions is adequate to meet the demand.
(Interruptions.)
Let us hear the Minister.
It is for that reason that I have agreed — I think it is the proper way to deal with the matter — to spend more money on remedial works next year. Something needs to be done there and more money should be made available in that area. It might very well come to pass that there will be a change in the demand and there will be a need for further completions. I accept that but it is not indicated to me now by the independent consultancy advice or by those who tell me about these matters. Consequently, it would not be appropriate to use scarce resources on something that might not materialise. That is the reason why the divide is being made in such a way.
Does the Minister accept that he does not need independent consultants' advice to show him that there are more people on housing waiting lists at present, some of them waiting for five and six years, than there are houses or other units of accommodation available or likely to be available over the next couple of years? There simply is not adequate accommodation. The financial situation in local authorities is such that the position will get worse rather than better. You do not need to wait and see——
I want to deal with the remaining question.
I would like to get on to the next question too. The number on the waiting list from 1982 to 1987 has dropped dramatically. I was listening to a radio programme only yesterday when some of these people who are on the waiting list were interviewed.
What has that got to do with next year?
Not one of them could honestly say that they were not being offered accommodation but they were refusing it for reasons of location or for a lot of other reasons.
That is in the city.
No. 61, Deputy Alan Shatter's question.