This morning we have learned that 3,500 local authority houses are vacant at a time when 98,000 people are on the waiting list. We pay almost €500 million per year to private landlords for providing accommodation to people that the State should provide for. I commend landlords for providing private accommodation, but it is unfortunate that the 3,500 units in the ownership of local authorities have not been allocated to the people who badly need them. The main reason for the delay in allocation is that the local authorities do not have the funds to carry out renovations. I call on the Leader to invite the Minister of State responsible for housing, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to attend in the next few weeks to debate the matter. It is time that local authorities took a look at the tenants that they allocate houses to and the way houses are maintained by tenants. It is unacceptable to have somebody who has vandalised a house moved to another house without paying some type of compensation to the local authority. The matter must be addressed because quite a few of the housing units have been vandalised by tenants.

I welcome today's announcement by the Minister for Education and Skills that the summer works scheme and the minor works scheme shall be reinstated with an allocation of €70 million. It is a welcome development for the schools who have had to rely on parents to maintain the school buildings since the Government abolished both schemes.

I join Senator David Norris in his call for a debate on banking. At a time when banks should be opening up to their customers and engaging with the general public, they have reduced the number of public kiosks as a way to encourage people to use machines. In the past the local bank manager always knew his or her client, but that scenario has gradually been eroded. Nowadays people must deal with machines located in their local branch rather than speak to the bank's personnel. That is unacceptable.

I support Senator Diarmuid Wilson's call for a discussion on the 3,500 vacant social housing units. I totally share his concern. I am aware that money was made available in previous budgets to turnaround the number of vacant units more quickly. However, I disagree with the Senator on one point. Not all of the units were vandalised by tenants. There are a number of the units where the tenant will have died due to natural causes such as old age, but there is no successor tenant to take over the tenancy. Housing standards have also improved dramatically over the years so many houses must be completely and totally refurbished.

I shall outline another scandal. A brand new kitchen or bathroom installed by a tenant must be removed and the property restored to the standard housing unit provided by a local authority. That is the epitome of nonsense. We must examine the vacant housing unit scenario and how quickly they can be made available. Some local authorities have introduced innovative measures that allows housing units to be turned around more quickly. For example, in the Dublin City Council area tenants can avail of a unit and carry out some of the work themselves.

Senator Diarmuid Wilson mentioned the larger problem of 98,000 people being left on the housing waiting list and practically no construction of local authority social housing. Along with asking the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, what measures can be taken to turn around the empty social housing units more quickly, we need a larger debate on the future of social housing and where it is going.