Ray Butler (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Yesterday in the Dáil, I referred to the social housing Bill which will be coming before us in this session or early in the next. I see that Ms Deane has put down a supplementary note on the impact of the rent supplement scheme. One of the biggest issues I come across in my constituency office is social housing, and I am sure it is the same for other Deputies as well. At the height of the boom, very little was done about social housing. During 14 years, the previous Government did very little about it. We had the property boom when developers were supposed to build private houses for profit, giving 10% to social housing. However, the Government of the day allowed those developers a get-out clause of which most of them availed, so we ended up with no new social housing.

Rent supplements and social housing are the biggest issues with which community welfare officers have to deal. In my county we have no social housing. We are waiting for some houses to be done up and it is a serious problem. I would like Ms Deane to give some feedback on this issue. We have been told that the only show in town at the moment is the rent allowance, which is putting people on the bottom rung of the social protection ladder under severe pressure. It is difficult even to get a place because in certain cases a lot of landlords might not be registered or do not want rent allowance tenants.

We can see what €30 million has done for the schools budget with extensions being built to replace prefabs. A lot of work has been undertaken for that sum, so we should put a similar plan in place to start building social housing. The lack of such accommodation is a major problem for vulnerable people.

I agree with Ms Fahey that the family income supplement should not be done away with. We need to revamp it in some shape or form. People in the food sector, including restaurants, can find people to work 19 or 20 hours per week, but they cannot get anyone to do a full week's work. We must examine the way the family income supplement is distributed. Rather than being abolished, it should be re-examined and revitalised.

Social housing is like a can that has been kicked down the road for years, while nothing has been done about it. It is now time to start taking action.