Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not know if the Minister is aware of the trauma that the near collapse of the Rebuilding Ireland scheme has caused people, after having made six month or eight month applications to some local authorities. In Fingal the waiting time was six or seven months. The Minister is totally out of touch. I asked him about soldiers because they serve their country, yet we have lost 20% of them in recent times because they cannot afford to live. The cost rental model in south County Dublin is offering future cost rental at around €1,200 a month. Can the Minister tell me of an Army private or corporal who can afford €1,200 a month in rent? We are supposed to have Defence Forces in which 10,000 or more people are expected to serve. In the main people in the ordinary ranks are not very wealthy or well-off. How are they supposed to get a home to rent or buy? The Minister does not seem to recognise this fact. He said that he has no responsibility for individual people. The Government should feel an immense collective responsibility for our Army.

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