Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He mentioned helping people find a home or a house. We can be flippant about it, if the Minister of State wants. I am asking him why people are homeless. Let us analyse that. The first reason people are homeless is that local authorities, through Government policy, are not providing them with a social house. Second, people cannot access private rental accommodation because the limits are less than market value. I am well aware of the consequences of doing it, but if we are not going to review this scheme and provide help to such families in the affected counties, rather than nationally, then we are saying to them that we are sorry but can do nothing. If the current market value is, for example, €1,450, and the discretion to which the Minister of State refers and which I have factored in is 20%, this brings it to approximately €1,250. We are saying the person is starting off over €200 behind the line. We know that and acknowledge it but we are not going to do anything about it for the moment, until stock comes into the market, which is at least two or three years away.

I can see how seriously the Minister of State is taking this matter. Kildare County Council officials have raised this with the Department and have identified that this is a real problem for parts of County Kildare where HAP is not going far enough. This is adding to the homeless issue and adding to the number of people on the housing list who are not able to access the private rental market because it is unable to provide houses for them. The question we have to ask is whether we want to help these families. If we want to take them out of hotels and temporary accommodation or out of overcrowded family scenarios and provide them with some sort of short-term stable environment, I ask the Government to consider reviewing the points I have raised.

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