Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On the latest figures, there were 1,151 units built by the local authorities and approved housing bodies, AHBs, at the end of the second quarter and 1,181 acquisitions. In terms of build, the proportion of the output that is build, as against housing assistance payment, HAPs, rental allowance scheme, RAS, and leasing, is about 10%. Is that not a fairly miserable output in terms of direct build? Even if one includes the acquisitions, about 80% of the Minister's social housing output is still dependent on the private sector. It does not really give much credence to the suggestion that we are weaning ourselves off dependence on a private sector, particularly given that the private sector, as we see, is jacking up rents.

That will clearly inflate the cost the State has to bear to pay for social housing that is dependent on this sector.

The next issues relates to that and this is where it comes down to the human level. The Minister made the statement earlier that if the State is paying the rent of a person, his or her housing need is met. Does the Minister honestly believe that is a fair comment in respect of the many people who find themselves in HAP or RAS arrangements and who then discover the landlord is pulling out of them, which is happening regularly? Such people do not feel their housing need is being met because it is not; HAP is not secure. One could argue that RAS provides some security, although we have had extreme difficulty in my area because landlords pulled out of RAS arrangements and the council said a new arrangement could not be found. When somebody is in a precarious HAP arrangement and where there is plenty of evidence of landlords pulling out of them, how can the Minister make that statement? Is it not a bit of an insult to the people who find themselves evicted and then in hubs or emergency accommodation, having supposedly had their housing need met?