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

I previously raised the fact that the family income supplement payment is factored into a person's income. By definition, if a person is eligible for family income supplement, it means that his or her income is not sufficient to sustain a family. That supplemental money was being factored in and meant that people were no longer eligible to stay on the social housing list.

As Deputy Boyd Barrett said, one of the cornerstones of social housing policy in this country going back many decades was to have a mix of people in the same areas, including people depending on welfare payments and those in employment. If the policy continues as it currently stands, nobody who has a job will be eligible to qualify for a local authority house. That would be a retrograde step for this country in every respect. Can the Minister of State give us a commitment that he will tell his Department officials and the other agencies involved in this review that he wants to bring this report back to the Dáil before the middle of July? It could go on until the autumn or until next year, given how the matter has been dealt with at official level so far. Can the Minister of State commit to that, and tell the officials and other agencies that he has committed to Dáil Éireann that this will be case, and that he wants it to be finalised with a new and realistic scheme in place before the middle of July?

See this speech in context