Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise a niche issue in housing, which is the social housing passport. It provides for someone to move from one local authority housing list to another. At present, people on the Dublin City Council list cannot move over to the South Dublin County Council list without losing their time. I will give an example of why this is needed. I have a constituent living in Newcastle, County Dublin in my constituency. She has been living in Newcastle for 12 years. She has set down roots in Newcastle. Her children go to school in the Newcastle area, but because she is on the Dublin City Council list, she cannot apply for any houses in the Newcastle area. At one stage she would have been able to do this because people could have a crossover file on the HAP transfer list, but Dublin City Council removed people from that list. I first submitted a parliamentary question on this in 2019 to see where this was, and I was told it was under review. It is now 2024. According to the latest reply I have, it is still under review. This is something that could be easily resolved and is something that would have an impact on people. This is also something that is attributable. When that person moved to Newcastle, she did not envisage she would be 12 years waiting for a house. This is the housing crisis.

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