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

-----and there might be a dark horse or two - God knows - the programme for Government commitments in the area that is most urgent for the citizens of this country are failing disastrously. The Taoiseach might say to Simon and Leo that they are to keep the campaign short and deal with this housing crisis, which the Taoiseach has helped create.

I want to ask a number of specific questions about the Taoiseach's programme for Government commitments. First, the very first line of the programme's chapter on housing refers to "affordable". There is no affordable scheme. There is no affordable rental scheme mentioned in the programme and no affordable housing scheme mentioned in Rebuilding Ireland. Even though these form centre pieces of Rebuilding Ireland, there is not a sign of these schemes.

Second, the programme refers in great detail to the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme and its central role in delivering. Deputy Simon Coveney confirmed something yesterday, which every TD in this Dáil knows, that the figures are shocking and revealing. In Dublin, average rents for a two-bedroom house are now €2,600 a month whereas the HAP rent support is €1,250 a month for the same sized accommodation. In other words, average rents are more than twice what the Government is willing to give people in HAP support to find accommodation. Needless to say, they cannot find it and they end up homeless. What will the Taoiseach do to bridge that gap? Currently, it is simply a recipe for spiralling homelessness, which is shocking and obscene.

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