Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the reply but it is basically the same as the reply I got several months ago. The review was to take place much earlier than "later this year". Will the Minister ask his officials to review this? Officials from Cavan County Council have spoken to officials in the Department.

I can cite a few cases I know of. A young lady came to me. She is a lone parent with three children, two at second level school and one at primary level. She works in a factory, in a low-paid job. She is on the family income supplement, FIS. She cannot qualify for social housing. By definition the fact that she is on FIS means that her income is not sustainable to support her family. How could she get a loan in her own right on an income that is not sustainable? The Minister is new to the job but will he ask his officials to try to bring some equity into this system? He said it is an "equitable" system. It is not equitable. I cited another case the last time I spoke to the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Coveney, of a young apprentice fitter and his partner, who had lost her job and is on jobseeker's allowance, and who have a child but do not qualify for social housing.

Mention was made earlier of the good history of social housing in this country and the good mix of people in communities where social housing was the predominant vehicle for providing housing but there will not be people in employment in social housing in the future if we continue the present policy. That would be disastrous for communities.

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