Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The spend on HAP last year was €149 million and this year it is €301 million. It has more than doubled. The people who will join the Raise the Roof protest outside of the gates of Leinster House at 12.30 p.m. next Wednesday have a simple and extremely modest demand that the capital spend of €2.3 billion be doubled. Why is the Government doubling the spend on HAP, which will end up in the pockets of landlords, rather than doubling the capital spend in order to provide social homes to people who will have them from there on in?