Dáil debates

Thursday, 16 April 2015

12:10 pm

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is fair to note that the money for rent supplement and mortgage interest supplement has been cut by 43% since 2011. The total allocation for housing this year is €680 million, which is down from the €805 million we provided the year the Tánaiste came into government. That is a cut of €190 million. It is time we realised there is a crisis which will only be resolved by providing accommodation and making it affordable. The Government made the choice in the budget last year to reduce the top rate of tax rather than to deal with a greater, more urgent necessity, which is the homelessness crisis. I ask the Tánaiste what the Government is going to do in the short term for the people who are in emergency accommodation and do not know where they are going to sleep. We will wind up in a situation in which people are sleeping in cars. It seems the Government benches think that is a laughing matter.

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