Vol. 508 No. 3
56 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the contact, if any, made between his Department and the Irish Catholic bishops concerning the possible sale of church lands for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18552/99]
Following a number of earlier telephone contacts, my Department has written to the Irish Episcopal Conference seeking a meeting to discuss the issue of making land or property which may be surplus to the church's requirements available for residential use or development. I expect that the arrangements for such a meeting will be finalised shortly.
I am glad to hear that the Minister is on his way to Maynooth to discuss this matter with the hierarchy. Why did he select just one church, the Roman Catholic Church, or does he wish to include other churches? Everybody is aware of the great demand for housing land, particularly for social housing. Can the Minister say, even at this preliminary stage, if he has in mind a scheme which would require the churches to give their lands gratis to the State or is he seeking a discount rate for local authorities or voluntary housing associations should they purchase such lands?
I do not know where the Deputy got the information that I was travelling to Maynooth. I did not select any one church; we have been in contact with both the Catholic Church and the representative body of the Church of Ireland. I am unaware of any huge land holdings held by the smaller religions in this country so obviously we have not made contact with them in that regard. We are talking in the same context here as with regard to State lands, that is, land being made available as a first option to local authorities for purchase at reasonable rates and agreed valuations, not confiscation or providing land gratis.
Does the Minister not accept that it is hypocritical of the State to ask the church to produce land for houses given that the State is the largest landowner? I can offer two examples. The Army has bases throughout the country and much of its land is not utilised. CIE is another example; it has large land bases which are not being utilised. What unit in the Department is considering an audit of State owned land? The time has come for such a unit to discuss regularly with other Departments how non-utilised State lands can be given over for local authority housing.
The establishment of such a unit is well under way in the Department. Previously, the housing section pursued these matters with the various State bodies, health boards and semi-State organisations. We are now well on the way to putting a specific unit into the Department to co-ordinate not just this aspect of housing development but all efforts in the context of the serviced land initiative and so forth. That unit is being put in place. We have received huge co-operation from the Department of Defence which is probably the biggest landowner. The Department of Finance, I understand, is also in the process of completing an audit of lands in the possession of the State.
When is the Minister's Department likely to publish a full audit of all available State lands which could be taken up by local authority housing schemes? Can he assure the House that the audit will be published? Second, has the Minister any idea of the type of land bank involved, particularly as it relates to urban areas because that is where the shortage of land for social housing is most acute.
We are trying to establish, through the local authorities, the amount of land that is available, particularly in built up areas. I cannot say if one could call that a formal audit. I have met county managers and local authorities throughout the country and a number of other meetings are due to be held. We are emphasising this matter and they are providing information to my Department and to the Department of Finance about available land. It is important to have as much information as possible, particularly with regard to built up areas, and to have the first bite of the cherry, as it were, in securing the land. Initially there was a fear among State agencies, particularly State and semi-State bodies, that we had in mind confiscation of the land or taking it over without paying—
Pillage of the monasteries.
However, that is not the case and we tried to make that clear all along. The message is finally getting through and we are now getting much more co-operation.
