Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to repeat what I actually said - namely, that a search conducted on a leading property website shows that there are a total of 15 one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom properties available for rent in the Ratoath and Ashbourne areas. It must be stressed that part of the issue is the lack of supply. Deputy Doherty suggested that there was a far greater supply. If that is the case, it is not available through the sources of information checked by the Department.

The second and more important issue is that housing is correctly the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. I am most anxious to see a fundamental reform in the form of the transfer of rent supplement to local authorities. That is in train through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. People who end up on rent supplement in the long term are heavily restricted in their ability to go back to work or set up a business because, in effect, if they start work again on a full-time basis or if they set up a business, the rent supplement may be withdrawn. The time has come to reform how rent supplement operates in terms of getting people back to work and into activity. It was designed as a temporary measure and I am glad the Deputy has acknowledged that. It is also time for local authorities to properly adopt their responsibilities, including the possibilities that exist for renting houses over the medium term through the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Local authorities have a significant role to play.

I am most sympathetic to families who find themselves in a situation in which there is very little accommodation available in the area in which they want to live, and what accommodation exists is prohibitively expensive. The Department is spending more than €400 million on rent allowance for more than 81,000 families. It is a very significant and large part of our budget. The Deputy is graciously suggesting that the budget should be increased. Perhaps she would take up the issue with her colleague, the Minister for Finance.

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