Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

Given the limited time available I wish to focus on three aspects of the motion, namely, Part V, rent assistance and local authority loans.

Over 3,000 individuals or families are seeking to be housed on the local authority waiting lists in County Kildare. That is in the region of 10,000 people, which is equivalent to a medium sized town. Given the extent of the development that has been occurring in Kildare I was prepared to accept when it was introduced in the first place that Part V might be a reasonable response. It is more than three years since the scheme was introduced and to date it has delivered no more than a couple of dozen apartments and houses. I accepted that a lead-in time would apply, but that is just totally off the wall.

Given that Part V has replaced direct-build as the central response to the housing list, it cannot be allowed to drift in this manner. Local authorities have had a very patchy record and all the Department appears to be interested in doing is complaining about how patchy that record is instead of investigating the reasons for it and addressing them. The stupidity of this approach means that significant amounts of rent assistance is paid to landlords for the additional years that people are lingering on housing waiting lists.

Rent supplement and how it is handled is the greatest poverty trap I have encountered. If one works, one does not qualify for rent assistance. One does not have a choice but to stay at home and in many cases postpone one's working life. I know numerous people who have resorted to tranquillisers because of this, which results in them just drifting along. In most cases taking a job is not an option, especially when one looks at the cost of rent and child care. There must be a change in this approach.

Five years appears to be a typical period for a person to be required to spend on the waiting list. Not only are we making people postpone their working lives, we are ensuring that they live in poverty. The vast majority of people on waiting lists have children. We are also losing out on their skills and the contribution they could make to the economy and in terms of personal development. The current approach does not make social or economic sense.

For those lucky enough to be allocated an affordable house the limit for annuity loans from local authorities is ridiculously low at €165,000. It is impossible for people to make the breakthrough. Where I live affordable houses cost around €200,000, if they are available at all. This problem exists in every county. In excess of 100,000 individuals are on the waiting list. That is the equivalent of the population of three counties, Carlow, Leitrim and Longford. If that is not a problem I do not know what is.

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