Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 25 April 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed)

Photo of Mark WallMark Wall (Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome all three Ministers here. This is a very important discussion we are having. I continue to receive calls on a daily basis from people looking for housing.. Unfortunately, where I live in County Kildare, people are still seeing that houses are not being delivered quickly enough. We all want houses delivered quickly enough. The Minister has stated that the Government is doing it as quickly as possible, but the reality on the ground in places like Kildare belies this.

I want to take up the point that Deputy Higgins raised about the cost-rental model and the amount of rent per month that people are paying. Kildare seems to be very similar to Dublin in this regard. Many people are paying a high proportion of their wages each month in relation to cost rental. To be specific about his answer, does the Minister have proposals to reduce that cost on people? Credit is not available to them. I know of people in County Kildare who are paying from €1,300 to €1,500 per month often on limited wages. This is a large percentage of their actual earnings.