Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I find it strange to listen to the Minister's response. He is right to say we need emergency accommodation but the families concerned also need hope. They need to believe that perhaps a year down the line they will be in a local authority house in permanent accommodation to enable their kids to go to school. The Minister's strategy with a 70:30 split between private and public housing is a slap in the face for them. Some 70% of those on social housing lists do not want to have a landlord and depend on the RAS and the HAP to provide for their future. They want something permanent. Why is the Minister so reluctant? He says he wants to build more social housing and that that is the task, but why not aspire to a change of ethos and build houses that will serve the country for the next 100 years?

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