John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking the question. I am quite disappointed with the tenor of the answer. It seems the Department is looking for more reasons not to introduce a scheme than to introduce one. Even if it is looking to introduce one, there is no timeline or delivery date for when such a proposal would come into use and begin to have an effect.

There are issues around everything the Minister of State spoke about but there are 14,000 houses waiting for some initiative. As I said, even if the Minister set a target of 10%, he would be making a very valuable contribution to the housing and homelessness crisis.

As for issues such as storage and people not being able to deal with matters because they are elderly, they often give over power of attorney to family members, and the Minister of State should not underestimate the ability of an elderly person to deal with such an issue. Many elderly people are more than capable. Just because a younger person has the years on his or her side does not mean he or she is capable of understanding a financial transaction, either. I assure the Minister of State that if the incentive is attractive, it will be understood quickly. I ask her to go back to the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, and to include the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy English, in the conversation as well. She should ask them to actively consider the proposal I have made and instead of finding reasons not to do it, come up with reasons they should do it and bring in solutions around that.

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