Raise housing spending - CORI

The Conference of Religious of Ireland justice commission has called on the Government to use revenue collected from bogus non-resident accounts to help solve Ireland's social housing crisis.

Commission director Father Seán Healy noted that "currently there are 130,000 people in more than 48,000 households on waiting lists for social housing".

The Government's current response meant "the waiting list will not be cleared for 30 years".

The Revenue Commissioners "revealed recently that the total yielded by the various special inquiries of recent years has now reached €1.002 billion," he said. The amount received in settlements with the banks was €220 million, with the banks' customers paying a further €494 million, Father Healy said.

"The tax not paid on these accounts in previous years allowed successive Governments to claim that they did not have the revenue required to provide the social housing that was needed. Consequently, housing waiting lists have grown."

Father Healy said it remained "a national shame that Ireland, in spite of its prosperity, refuses to provide the resources required to ensure that every person in the country has appropriate accommodation".