Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Notwithstanding the bogus propaganda that €3.8 billion has been allocated for the provision of 110,000 social housing units, the reality is that €2.3 billion of that relates to the existing rent allowance budget of the Department of Social Protection. That is a fact, as verified by the Department in the reply to a parliamentary question I submitted earlier this week. Two thirds of the houses the Minister is promising come under the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme - that is, they are properties rented out by private landlords. When landlords are increasing rents and evicting people on a daily basis, how can the Minister seriously expect us to believe the HAP scheme and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, that he is promising will deliver the housing that is desperately needed by people such as those in the Gallery today?

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