Danny Healy-Rae: Housing delays and heat-pump waste in Kerry
Danny Healy-Rae criticised local authority housing turnaround times and called some refurbishment work wasteful, citing long delays and costly heat-pump installations. He gave specific examples from Kerry, naming delays in Killarney, Kilgarden and visits to houses in Ishkari, and urged action.
He thanked Tommy Gould and Sinn Féin for bringing the motion and opened by saying there is no shadow of a doubt that local authority houses are taking too long to turn around.
He described one house in Marion's Terrace, Killarney that took over five years to be turned around and said it suffered vermin and other damage. He recounted work in Kilgarden village where houses were left riddled inside after crews undertook major removals.
He criticised crews who removed roofs and chimneys to install underground heat pumps, saying two houses will cost more than a hundred thousand euros each to turn around. He said teams had gone to 18 houses in Ishkari to fit heat pumps and called that a waste of money when other houses need attention.
He relayed a constituent who told him she only had a small fireplace and foyer left and said the works would remove that. He said he has raised the matter with Kilgarden County Council and that other houses around the parish remain unfinished.
He said he was shocked to hear the Taoiseach suggest a house should take four or five days to turn around and contrasted that with his experience of over five years for some properties. He emphasised long delays by mentioning figures including '64 months' and '64 weeks' to underline the gap between expectation and reality.
Motion brought and thanks
He thanked Tommy Gould and Sinn Féin for bringing the motion and opened by saying there is no shadow of a doubt that local authority houses are taking too long to turn around.
Local examples of delays and damage
He described one house in Marion's Terrace, Killarney that took over five years to be turned around and said it suffered vermin and other damage. He recounted work in Kilgarden village where houses were left riddled inside after crews undertook major removals.
Critique of heat-pump works and costs
He criticised crews who removed roofs and chimneys to install underground heat pumps, saying two houses will cost more than a hundred thousand euros each to turn around. He said teams had gone to 18 houses in Ishkari to fit heat pumps and called that a waste of money when other houses need attention.
Personal stories and council complaints
He relayed a constituent who told him she only had a small fireplace and foyer left and said the works would remove that. He said he has raised the matter with Kilgarden County Council and that other houses around the parish remain unfinished.
Comparison to government target and emphasis on delays
He said he was shocked to hear the Taoiseach suggest a house should take four or five days to turn around and contrasted that with his experience of over five years for some properties. He emphasised long delays by mentioning figures including '64 months' and '64 weeks' to underline the gap between expectation and reality.
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Transcript
I'm glad to get the opportunity and I want to thank Tommy Gould and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very important motion here tonight. There's no shadow of a doubt that houses in the local authorities are taking too long to turn around. And there was one house in Killarney, I fought tooteneal, from the first day I came up here it took over five years to get that house in Marion's Terrace turned around. And there was vermin and everything else connected. I was shocked the other day when I heard the Taoiseach saying that he thought a house should really take four or five days to turn around. It may be, and he's right, that's maybe what it should take in some instances, like two houses in Kilgarden that people left a few months ago. And what happens then, some crew comes along, takes off the roof, take out the chimney and they're still at it, putting in underground heat pump or whatever it is, the houses are riddled. Inside under my own nose in Kilgarden village, that's what's going on. Wasting money. I believe that these two houses will cash more than a hundred thousand each to turn around. They're going over now to another village in Ishkari and they went around to 18 houses to tell them that they're fitting these heat pumps. This is waste of money when there's other houses to be turned around. Wasting good money, they'll cash over a hundred thousand euros. One poor woman rang me and she said, Danny, we'll take you out my little fireplace and take you down the chimney. That's all I have, she said, after all my years and I want my little foyer. I've been on to Kilgarden County Council, this is wasting money. While other houses are around the parish and around the different parishes in Kilgarden. We don't know what being done to them. That's ridiculous. 64 months just taking to bring around, 64 weeks just taking to bring around a house in Kerry. 64 weeks and the Taoiseach takes to only take five days. Well, he's ambitious but I don't think he'll bring it down to that. And he's a great, he's a good man and he's trying his best. But this isn't happening or it won't happen if we were here. You're on full flight. 64 months. . . , . .