I was at a meeting on this issue at the early stages of the crisis. Extensive consideration was given to the issue of centres in local authorities and if there was sufficient capacity. The population of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is around 250,000. Some local authorities, like my own, have a population of 100,000 while others have 60,000. There is not a uniform, one-size-fits-all solution. In some population centres, we need more than one. I recall from that meeting that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is not the only one and t…

I am at the point of repeating myself. I cannot directly answer the questions because I have no direct responsibility for housing. When I was speaking earlier, I was paraphrasing what the Minister said last week regarding the consideration of extending the moratorium on evictions and rents. The points the Deputy makes are valid. I will collate all the questions relating to housing and the Minister, who is responsible for that area, will revert to him

I will again preface my comments by saying that I will ask the Minister with responsibility for housing to respond directly. I repeat that there are vast differences between the delivery of different services depending on local authority areas. Louth County Council is a great example of an authority that is at the cutting edge in the issue of dereliction and bringing buildings that are derelict back into use. The council has used compulsory purchase orders and I know that compulsory sales orders are also being disc…

In advance of seeing the full details, I cannot give that guarantee. However, I fully understand the point the Deputy is making. The person in question is obviously afraid that he will lose the house that he has identified under the scheme. At different points during the measures the Government has announced and different agencies have implemented across the State, there have been adjustments and changes. In relation to the Property Registration Authority, there was a particular bottleneck identified and working wi…

Following on from the court judgment, the drafting of new criteria for eligibility for house construction in rural areas is not yet completed but I understand it is close to completion. In relation to how we go forward with rural development, the point the Deputy makes is correct. There are plenty of people in Ireland who would not like to see any more houses built in rural areas for ideological reasons but it is crucially important for the future of the shops, the post offices, the schools and the clubs, not just …

Rural areas need new people too and there needs to be a balance brought into that debate.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae raised this as well and I agree fully. It has to be far too much ideology in terms of rural planning in general. It is a multifaceted answer but there are two obvious issues. First, there are the serviced sites on the edges of our towns and villages. There is also the dispersed rural housing, the once-off rural house. I am acutely familiar with some of the issues in Leitrim. The guidelines I referred to are as a result of the European Court of Justice decision - I cannot remember the name of …