Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

I thank the Minister for her response. I agree our objective should be a long-term solution for people in these situations. It would be great if we could see a time down the road when that would happen. Unfortunately, housing lists are getting longer, the amount of accommodation available to councils is extremely limited and people remain on the housing lists for extremely long periods. I agree we should be providing social housing and for those who require it, but that is not what is happening. People are dependent on rent allowance and this problem will continue.

I appeal to the Minister to talk to officials and ask them for some flexibility in this regard. They must recognise that the type of accommodation that may be suitable to a person's long-term needs is not available, rather than create problems for people by cutting off the rent allowance and forcing them to move out of accommodation and go through an appeals process. As we mentioned in a previous debate, appeals can take an inordinate length of time. We must use a common sense approach, although I recognise and agree we should work towards the long-term gains. However, in the meantime, many people will be impacted detrimentally due to the current policy.

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