Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----that have been referenced here already. We are working with every tool available to us to drive down the numbers in homelessness. The approach to homelessness has to be housing-led. It has to be about increasing supply across all tenures - social housing, affordable housing, private housing and rental housing. Deputies have referenced the lack of rental housing on the market. Some Deputies have bemoaned the amount spent on HAP. I think it was Deputy Mitchell who referred to the €1 billion being spent on HAP and RAS payments. That is supporting more than 60,000 families with direct rental payments. We have seen a reduction in the increases in HAP in the past two years and that is what I want. I want to see people transition out of HAP into permanent social housing. What is the suggestion of the Sinn Féin Deputies, however? Is it that we stop HAP payments? I increased them just last week. The Deputies should not call it a subvention for private landlords when, on the other hand, the Sinn Féin housing spokesperson bemoans the loss of private individual landlords from the market.

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