Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That might help to explain it. Dr. Sweeney spoke about the number of current HAP tenancies. I have departmental figures relating to May 2020. The total HAP tenancies in May 2020 was 59,821. That is quite significant. I presume it has increased since then. The figures were broken down by individual local authority area. For Dr. Sweeney's own knowledge, the figure had increased to almost 60,000 tenants.

Looking at the number of additional households that are supported by HAP each year and the associated cost, there seems to be a decreasing yield on moneys spent. There was an increase in the spend of €42 million in 2016 for, I believe, 12,000 new places. It amounted to an average cost of around €3,482 per person, per year. The additional €78 million that is provided for this year will work out at around €5,200 per person for 15,000 people. That amounts to a doubling in the subsidy, when nationally we have seen rent increase by over 25% since 2017 alone. In my own constituency in Louth, for example, in quarter 1 of 2017 the average rent for a three-bedroom house was €977 per month, with the cost over the same period this year being around €1,230. That is an increase of nearly 26%. Is it the case that Dr. Sweeney sees this money as being an increased spend aimed at resolving the issues in the housing market or does he believe these subsidies to private landlords are having a role in driving up rental prices?