Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I have said previously, there seems to be an increased move towards the use of rent supplement and the rental accommodation scheme as part of the housing programme and a move away from the construction of more social housing. The local authorities are having problems. In the past, they used to buy back properties to house senior citizens and others. They used to be able to get financial contributions from such people. That is no longer happening. That avenue has been closed off to local authorities that are seeking to provide housing. The small amount of money that is being allocated for Traveller accommodation is inadequate. I believe we need to focus on building more social housing. The solutions offered by the rent supplement and rental accommodation schemes are temporary rather than permanent. They will not provide us with a long-term answer to the crisis we are facing. Almost 100,000 people are on housing waiting lists. Some 5,000 people are homeless. These figures are startling and are getting bigger. People on the mortgage to rent scheme are being put out of the places they are in because landlords want to sell their properties, or are under pressure to sell them. These people are ending up on the lists. While money is being provided, over the years there has been a hell of a big reduction in the amount of money put into capital projects. We need to be more realistic in our approach to how we are going to deliver more social housing.

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