John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In light of the commitment in the programme for Government to deal with the housing and homelessness crisis, I want to ask the Tánaiste about one specific issue. Last week the Minister, Deputy Coveney, announced an increase in the rent allowance across the country but, unfortunately, in a couple of counties, including my own county of Kerry, it was in the region of 5%. I went to the trouble of looking at the Daft first quarter average rents for the country. The average rent in County Galway is €618 per month and in Kerry is €623 per month. Both counties have similar populations and very similar demands regarding tourism activity, etc. Why did the Minister apply such a meagre increase to Kerry when he applied a 25% increase to County Galway? He applied an equally meagre increase to Mayo. While I understand he might have a reason for not giving Mayo a decent increase, I cannot understand why he did not give Kerry a decent increase. This should be reviewed and changed immediately.

See this speech in context