Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The House may not be aware, but council housing waiting lists have increased by 9% in the last 12 months. What this means in real terms is that the housing waiting lists for local authority housing has increased from 91,600 households in September 2016 to 99,555 in September 2017 in this State. In my county of Cork, Cork County Council local authority area waiting lists have increased from 4,241 in September 2016 to 6,948 a year later. This is an increase of 63%. In figures, 2,707 households are now on the waiting list. Something is not right here. It is quite simple; the Government is not building or buying a sufficient number of social and affordable housing units to meet the ever increasing demand. What is even more troubling is the very fact that in the same period there has been an increase of 18,671 households signing up for the housing assistance payment, HAP. When a household goes into HAP it is removed from its respective council list. HAP has increased by 18,671. The House could surmise that as a reaction to this scenario the council housing waiting list would come down, but unfortunately the opposite is happening.

Does the Minister of State know the kind of stress this puts on families and individuals and how many are suffering at the moment? It has to be soul destroying for parents, or a parent, to turn to a child or their children and say, "No love, it is not going to happen tonight, but maybe tomorrow". This is the reality for so many people, including families living in hotels and in temporary accommodation. Do we know what it feels like for a child in school when their classmates find out that they do not live in a house? Do we know what it is like for a child when he or she cannot invite friends around to play because they do not have a garden? The whole family unit can be torn apart because it does not have a place to call home. Home is the vital word here.

I am delighted to talk to the Minister of State tonight, but I am appealing to him please to review the social housing targets for 2018 and beyond and to secure additional funds to increase the targets and to meet the ever-growing demand for affordable and social housing.

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