Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The more I hear on this, the more worried I am about it. In quarter one of 2015, there were 20 local authority and 117 voluntary and co-operative houses built. In quarter two, no local authority houses were built and 40 voluntary and co-operative houses were built. My point is that more and more social housing now comes from these approved housing bodies. I am becoming a little bit concerned, because of the wording of the Bill, that tenants of these housing bodies could find themselves told to vacate social housing as they are no longer considered, to use the words in the Bill, as "being qualified for social housing support". Words are always very important. The Minister of State may think there is no danger of that happening but it is the Government strategy - if one looks at HAPS or RAS, one is not necessarily a tenant forever; one is a tenant for a period of time. When Deputy Alan Kelly spoke previously on housing, he talked about people who are quite poor and quite in need of social housing. It is not like in the past when many of us lived in council housing and people had jobs and everyone worked. We all know there has been a change. I am concerned that if the Minister of State does not accept this amendment, people who are put into social houses of these voluntary housing associations could find themselves being asked to move on if they get a job which puts them in the position of no longer being qualified for housing support. I ask the Minister of State to accept that amendment and give people security of tenure and tell us that will not happen.

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