Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that the Minister has said he is taking an approach of reminding these people of their responsibilities, but what we are talking about here are families who have lived in this area for decades. One individual has been living in the Curragh Camp for 34 years and has given 44 years service to the Army. He retired two years ago and got a letter four months after he retired telling him to vacate the premises. He has been to Kildare County Council and was told he is over the limit for social housing. He has been to the bank and was told he does not have enough money and he is too old to get a mortgage. That family is one example but there are others who have nowhere else to go.

The Minister said there were fewer than 75 families in this situation nationally. Some of those are widows and separated people in very low paid, temporary employment. Can the Minister not engage humanely with 75 people? He claims that the maintenance of this stock has been onerous on his Department. Where is the cost-benefit analysis conducted into that? These people paid substantial amounts of rent and, indeed, when they retire from the forces they pay more rent. How much is the Department spending on the maintenance of their premises because they are giving it quite a lot of rent? I do not believe it actually costs the Department anything.

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