Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, that is a pretty hackneyed cliché. Sometimes I am completely taken aback by how conservative Sinn Féin is. It seems to want to retain the status quo. For the period of time I have been in government, I have heard Deputies opposite, including, prominently, Sinn Féin, whingeing about the housing rental supplement and how it assists poverty traps and prevented people from going back to work. Although it is not my area, to my knowledge, nobody in this House has opposed the housing assistance payment being transferred to the local authorities from the Department of Social Protection. Everybody has supported that. What the Deputy alleges is wrong. I suspect that after him being involved in the debate and having welcomed the Bill on Second Stage, the bevy of advisers got at him and they then started to construct mischievous amendments. He knows people who will be in receipt of the housing assistance payment will not lose their priority in terms of alternative-----

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