Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive reply and thank the Tánaiste for her work in this area over a considerable time. For my sins, I deal with quite a number of queries from the Dublin area as well in regard to housing, strange as it may seem. I was only joking when I referred to Meath and Wicklow looking after themselves. It is an overspill of the situation from the Dublin area.

The Minister of State correctly referred to those on low incomes in rental accommodation. On a point that is applicable in some cases but not all, might it be possible to look again at the cases where people on low incomes have a need for some portion of supplement in order to alleviate the most severe hardship that might come their way? I agree entirely that the purpose of the exercise would not be to inflate rents, which would make the whole exercise self-defeating. Nonetheless, it might be possible to be selective in looking at the cases where there is hardship for people who are at work, or not at work, as the case may be, but who are also victims of the market surge in rents that is outside their control.

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