Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I strongly support my colleague, Deputy Ó Fearghaíl, in recommending this amendment. As he has said, this is nothing but a sleight of hand. It is a gross misrepresentation of the facts, and that is what will ensue. There are almost 100,000 people on housing waiting lists throughout the country and they are entitled to, and would expect, a permanent solution to their problems. This measure offers a temporary solution. Why then should it be represented as a permanent solution when plainly it is not? That is not to detract or deflect from what the Minister of State has proposed regarding the HAP. It is a temporary solution. It is a stepping stone to a more permanent solution, and if that is the thrust of what the Minister of State is proposing, why has she not included in the Bill wording to the effect that nobody who avails of the HAP system can be taken off the list? Is it such that anybody who refuses to accept a proposal such as this will be penalised or will lose points within the existing local authority system for not accepting a solution to their housing need? This solution is temporary but there is no sleight of hand or misrepresentation of the facts on the existing list, which numbers almost 100,000.

It is our obligation to provide for their needs in a way that amounts to a permanent solution to the unfortunate predicament in which they find themselves. For the Minister of State to stand over removing people who avail of the housing assistance payment from the housing waiting lists is, to say the least, unbelievable. I expected that, as this was raised on Committee Stage, the Minister of State and her officials would have availed of the opportunity to amend the Bill in this regard. In the absence of that, will she now accept this amendment and right what will be a wrong in the sense that the public may believe that a permanent solution has been found for up to 70,000 people when in fact nothing could be further from the truth?

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