Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have a substantial housing crisis in Ireland. Some 7,000 people are living in emergency accommodation or in hotels. More than 2.500 children are living in emergency accommodation. We have difficulty in drawing down funds from Europe on the balance sheet and also off the balance sheet. We are limited in the amount of funds we can draw from Europe in relation to our housing crisis because of fiscal rules which mean the funds have to be included on the balance sheet. We are limited in how we can do that. Is that a problem across Europe?