Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

We know people are negotiating and they are doing so from a position in which they are in severe distress. They have no choice because the Minister will not meet her responsibility in that regard. She mentioned the rental accommodation scheme. Why are the numbers under that scheme reducing? According to the Revised Estimates for public services in 2012, the numbers under the scheme have shrunk from 6,800 to 6,300 and the Minister has outlined her big solution. We have argued about the issue previously and the Minister referred to the local authorities. Why does she not give them some of the 230,000 vacant housing units across the State? There are only 100,000 families on local authority housing lists. They are the ones in need of accommodation and many of them are in receipt of rent supplement. I have never supported the notion of the State subsidising private landlords. I have always argued that it should provide social housing. Why is the Minister not delivering the NAMA houses and the empty units around the country to the local authorities, rather than continuing to subsidise private landlords?

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