Ms Patricia King:

I will make reference to the rainy day fund. It is raining cats and dogs for thousands of people every day. I refer to people who find themselves living in hotels and totally unsuitable accommodation. It is becoming increasingly difficult for any Administration or set of policymakers to convince those people about the taking of a dollop of money. Every accountant and economist is asking, "What heresy does this woman speak?" I am sure there is merit in putting money aside for the rainy day but we have horrendous social problems that just need to be addressed. There are many people who get very frustrated over what seem to be anodyne responses to the matter in some cases and, in other cases, over people just not getting it in respect of the daily suffering of those affected. Therefore, it is very difficult to say one should take this money, lodge it in a rainy day fund and not have any real proposal or prospect for those coming out of the circumstances to which I referred.

I hope the Minister for Finance will take the opportunity to lay out in concrete terms the Government's proposals to deal with this issue. In 2017, 780 local authority houses were built. I was born and reared in County Wicklow. For the last three years, not one social or affordable house has been built in Wicklow despite the lengthy waiting list for housing in the area. It will be hard to convince people on the housing waiting lists of the need for a rainy day fund. Approximately 19,600 houses are to come on stream via the private sector and the housing assistance payment scheme and other schemes, much of which accommodation is below par for people on the social housing lists. We are so far off getting it right, such that the focus should not be on what amount could be put into a rainy day fund.

The Deputy is correct in what she said about the section 39 organisations. However, I would not in that regard have necessarily used the word "voluntary". People had no choice. The Government told the HSE and the Department of Health they had to implement the same levels of cuts on staff wages of these organisations as were applied throughout the public sector. The HSE and the Department fully fund most of those organisations and so staff therein were subject to the same level of cuts. However, no provision was made in the Lansdowne Road agreement restoration process to replenish the wages of staff of the section 39 organisations. Currently, we are in a form of industrial foray with the HSE and the matter has been referred to the Labour Relations Commission. The industrial action is deferred on the basis that talks are afoot. I do not know if they will be successful and I would not like to say anything that might impact on the discussions that are ongoing as we speak.