Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Nationally, 73,000 individuals or families receive rent allowance. The Deputy knows how popular it is with families. In Waterford, 325, or almost 25%, of the claims for rent allowance were awarded this year. I do not accept that there is not a significant number of people in Waterford whose housing needs are being addressed. I am aware, and I understand what the Deputy is referring to, that over the period of the crisis from 2008-09 onwards, very many people have been affected because, since the early 2000s, local authorities, in a policy led by the previous Government, decided to move away from building traditional social housing and to emphasise instead the private market providing for what were meant to be short-term tenancies.

The first move is that in next year’s budget, for the first time in over a decade, there is to be a resumption of the building of social housing and I know that families, especially those in their 30s and 40s, want a long-term reliable tenancy. That is what I want them to get and that is what the budget is designed to do.

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