Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have highlighted several items on several pages that require clarification, on foot of the recommendations made by the committee. I will give a couple of examples. Recommendation A.1 reads: "The Committee recommends that the Department immediately improves the system to provide comprehensive information in respect of all housing provision and that this information is published on a monthly basis." The response received from the Department focused on the monthly reporting issue rather than the fact that the committee found the data to be unsatisfactory.

Recommendation A.2 states that the spending on the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, "does not represent value for money". The Department dismissed the argument made by the committee in that regard. The Department did not answer or address many of the issues. There is a list but I will not delay the meeting.

Recommendation A.5 by the committee seeks value for money "where emergency accommodation is required". The Department did not mention or address the key value for money issue, which is the length of time that families remain in emergency accommodation. I have quite a few issues with the response from the Department. The Department has skirted around or dismissed some of our concerns and ignored specific recommendations. All of these matters must be rectified when the officials are here again.