Successive governments led by Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael have run down local authority housing, claiming that they needed a better ‘social mix’.
They have refused to build large council estates on the pretence that if a large number of working-class people congregate together there will be ‘anti-social problems’.
Instead, those on the housing list need to go to private landlords, under the Housing Assistance Programme.
Last year, the government gave out €1 billion in subsidies to private landlords under this scheme.
These handouts would not have been necessary if Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael led governments had built council houses.
A new report from the Simon Community shows that the whole scheme has been a disaster.
They found that there were no properties available to rent under the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme in nine out of 16 areas across the country – in Athlone, Cork city suburbs, Galway city centre, selected areas in Kildare, Leitrim, Limerick, Sligo town and Portlaoise.
We need to end this madness by having a state construction company build council houses on public land.