Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill will provide for a reduction of 10% in the amount allocated to the Houses of the Oireachtas to do its business. The amount for the previous three years was €360 million and this will be reduced to €324 million, a cut of 10% or €36 million. Compared to the three years prior to that again, it is a reduction of almost 20% from €393 million to €324 million. It represents, therefore, a significant reduction in the money allocated for the running of the Houses. I understand from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform that many of the individual measures will require statutory instruments and there is a procedure in the House under which any Member or party can address particular measures if they wish.

With regard to the issue of homelessness, the Government made it clear from the outset that one of our priorities was to ensure as far as possible that people would not lose their homes during this recession and to give effect to that, we passed this week the personal insolvency legislation, which will radically amend the legislation governing insolvency and put in place a range of non-judicial settlement arrangements for people who are in difficulty with their mortgages. All of this is aimed at ensuring people will not lose their homes. Homelessness is being addressed by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and I am sure she would be happy to answer detailed questions that may be put to her on that.

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