Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for her response. My question to her was if she would agree to revise and increase the rent allowance cap which she had introduced. She proceeded to preach to me on a number of fronts, but she has avoided answering the question. The unfortunate reality is that in 2012 she reduced the rent allowance cap. She told us she was reducing it to reflect rental market considerations. In the past three years rents have increased by between 20% and 30%, yet today and in the past few months the Tánaiste has refused to amend the rent cap allowances to reflect current market conditions. Instead, she tells us that individual families who cannot find a home within the rent allowance caps should try to deal with the problem on a one-to-one basis and go cap in hand to plead their case with their local authority and the landlord. Those in receipt of rent allowance are not a tool for the Tánaiste to try to affect the rental market. They are people who need housing in the same way as anyone else and who are more dependent and vulnerable than anyone else. It is unacceptable for the Tánaiste to oversee a situation where in many parts of the country people who need to find a home cannot do so within the rent allowance caps. Whenever the situation changes, the rules need to change. That was the Tánaiste’s stance in 2012 and there is no reason she should not now take the same approach. She cannot continue to stand over this situation. The problem of homelessness is growing day by day and it is owing to a lack of action by the Tánaiste that it is continueing. Will she agree to revise the rent allowance caps in the next few weeks to ensure this crisis can be addressed?

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