Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

It is disappointing that since last April people who are on RAS have been removed from the housing lists. Many of these housing placements are not permanent housing, but contracts with the local authorities. Some of them can be for up to four years. I recently encountered a person whose landlord indicated that he wished to sell the house. The person was only a year into the four year contract. Under the RAS scheme the landlord can do this once he intends to sell the property. It is very poor to have people excluded from the housing lists. It is massaging the figures. I have not yet heard of any special arrangements by the local authorities in regard to letting some of the people on RAS remain on the local authority housing list. Perhaps the Minister would elaborate further on that. The message does not appear to be getting to the local authorities that in some cases people on RAS can remain on the housing list. It is a massaging of the real figures on the housing list. Certainly, I do not consider people to be housed under RAS, especially when a contract can be pulled at such short notice.

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