asked the Minister for the Environment the number of dwellings commenced in the housing sector to date in 1979 as compared with the same period in 1978 and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The number of local authority dwellings commenced in the period 1 January 1979 to 30 September 1979 was 3,779 as compared with 3,844 in the same period in 1978. Information regarding non-local authority dwellings commenced is not available. However, the number of loans approved for new houses by the four main lending agencies in the period January to September 1979 was 12,498 as against 11,020 in the same period in 1978. The number of new house completions up to the end of September was 19,560 compared with 19,079 at the end of September 1978 and it is expected that total completions for the year may reach the target of 25,500.

What action does the Minister now propose to take to ensure that the dramatic slide in local authority housing over the last two years will be evened out and possibly reversed?

At the end of the third quarter it was 3,844 as against 3,779. Tradesmen were not easily got although this was more so in Dublin. I understand this has eased somewhat in recent months.

Arising out of that identification of the problem is the Minister now in a position, having reviewed what we said yesterday, to consider the possibility of requesting Dublin Corporation to have a direct labour unit to remove these problems which prevent people from getting houses?

I accept that the problem is easing and the situation is improving.

That will go down well in Killarney Street.

(Cavan-Monaghan): I am glad the Minister is not blaming the postal strike for the decline in the number of houses. Is he aware that it is practically impossible to get isolated rural cottages for small farmers built in any kind of time? It takes up to five years and in the meantime the people are living in sub-standard, inhuman conditions.

Is the Deputy saying the delay is in my Department?

(Cavan-Monaghan): I am asking the Minister if he is aware that it takes up to five years to get one of these cottages built. There seems to be a reluctance on the part of local authorities to build these houses. They say they do not have enough engineers and cannot get contractors. I would like the Minister to encourage them to get engineers and, if they cannot get contractors to build isolated cottages, to set up a labour force or unit to build them. I know from my own experience that these people are waiting for years on the housing list and are the most underprivileged in the country.

Is there any other way of helping certain contractors to secure bonds after a tender has been accepted by a local authority? Many of them have difficulty in obtaining a bond which would enable them to commence schemes and this adds further to the delay.

Delays depend to some extent on the previous record of contractors. I do not know if there are long delays in regard to this. I do not have any views at present about changing the system of requiring them to have the bond or indemnifying the council. They are obliged to do so.

I accept the necessity to have bonds but the agencies from which to acquire bonds are very limited. Perhaps the Minister might look at that angle of the problem.

As regards the agencies I will look at it but the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy would be involved with the particular companies making the bonds available.

Am I interpreting the Minister correctly when he said there was an easing up in the position vis-à-vis local authority housing? If so, on what does he base that and does he believe that that view is in conformity with the statement signed by 22 priests in the inner city of Dublin this morning?

I did not see the statement. I was dealing more specifically with the problem as it arose for Dublin Corporation. My information from them is that it has eased in recent months.

What exactly?

The scarcity of tradesmen.

It is the scarcity of houses I am concerned with.

The scarcity of tradesmen led to the scarcity of houses.

It did not.

It did.

It is always someone else who is responsible.

(Cavan-Monaghan): Does the Minister accept that while the number of houses being built is on a substantial decline the waiting list is increasing?

I do not because the waiting list in Dublin Corporation was reduced by almost 800 between November 1978 and May 1979. I do not have figures for other areas.

That is not so.

(Cavan-Monaghan): That is not accepted. Dublin is not Ireland.

I agree with the Deputy but I gave an example of Dublin.

We are getting into a debate on housing and I cannot permit that.

Arising from the Minister's reply regarding the communication with Dublin Corporation, with no disrespect to the officials involved or to the Minister's Department, but for the remaining time that the Minister will be Minister for the Environment will he consult his party's representatives on the corporation who, under the leadership of Deputy Moore, will give the real facts and not the official ones?

It is a long time since we had people camping in the streets.

The Deputy must not exhort the Minister.

I am not; I am asking him. It is a request.

It is a good one, too.