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

I want the Minister to answer me, not just give me the script. While I am sure other Members will say the same about other parts of Dublin, in south Dublin in particular there is no chance of securing significant numbers of HAP tenancies. There are 14 properties available to rent in total for everybody in the Dún Laoghaire area, the cheapest of which, a one-bed, is €1,400. The HAP limit for that is €900. The cheapest two-bed is €1,600, while the HAP limit is €1,275. The cheapest three-bed is €2,200, while the HAP limit is €1,300. The cheapest four-bed is €2,400, while the HAP limit is just €1,375. That is the reason people in our area are now in homeless accommodation or sleeping in cars.

HAP is simply not viable. What are we supposed to do where HAP is just not going to happen in certain areas? Side by side with the above, private development is taking place of houses which are completely unaffordable to people on the list. If we could get them for social and affordable housing, we might solve the problem. However, there is no effort being made to get a higher proportion of Part V provision or of social and affordable housing in the construction that is taking place. We just get the fantasy of HAP.

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