Meanwhile, the Cork Independent can reveal that the latest housing waiting list figures from Cork City Council remain stubbornly high. The figures will show that there are more than 4,600 applicants either on Cork City Council's social housing waiting lists or awaiting assessment to go onto the lists.

The figures also take into account the council's three-yearly housing assessment which traditionally sees the official waiting lists reduced by about 40 per cent. The assessment involves writing to everyone on the lists asking whether they want to remain on the lists and removing all applicants who fail to reply to three enquiries.

At the end of June there were 3,579 on the list and a further 1,028 awaiting approval to go onto the list. Among the applicants were 221 homeless, 58 travellers, 127 elderly , 18 disabled and 111 living in unfit accommodation.

Reacting to the figures, Socialist councillor Mick Barry told the Cork Independent, "One quarter of all construction workers in the private sector are expected to lose their jobs in the next 18 months. Thousands of construction workers fear that they will have no jobs to go to after the builders holiday this year.

"Yet at the same time we have nearly 5,000 on the housing lists in this city alone. This makes no sense at all. Councils should be provided with extra funding to re-establish direct labour building units so that they can employ construction workers to build the houses that our people need."

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