Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Community welfare officers in Limerick did a tremendous job during the flooding. I would appreciate it if the Minister referred back to me as quickly as possible as I have an interest in this issue. The difficulty is that I do not know what advice to give. I will take a leaf from Deputy Joan Collins's book and advise them to simply stay in the house, even if they cannot afford to pay the increased rent. We are facing imminent problems of homelessness.

I have a question about the move to the housing assistance payment, HAP. The Government has been promising this move for some time, whereby responsibility will be transferred from the Department of Social Protection to the local authorities. The scheme is part of the programme for Government and was supposed to be piloted in Limerick. I checked with the local authority in Limerick yesterday. The Minister has said there are 76,000 people in receipt of rent allowance. Limerick is the only place in which the HAP scheme has been initiated and only 40 of the 76,000 have transferred to it. That is approximately one half of 1% and we are 75% into the lifetime of the Government. When will the HAP scheme take off in a realistic way? Forty people out of 76,000 at this stage is pathetic.

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