Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a couple of issues with the Minister specifically about housing and its impact on older people and those with disabilities in our communities. I will give an example of how our social housing system has failed a gentleman I know, an absolute gent of the highest order. This gentleman was on the housing waiting list for 20 years - that is two decades. He had never been offered a property and had never refused one. The only time he sought assistance was when the third-floor apartment in which he was living was no longer suitable for his needs because he needed a double knee replacement. Unfortunately, stories such as this are common in my constituency of Longford-Westmeath.

I know of another gentleman who, due to diabetes and an associated infection, lost a leg. He is still living in a house that is not suitable for his needs, two and a half years after that operation. This young man is known in the community as somebody who can be approached and relied upon when others are in need. He now has a profound need that is not being met because of the lack of adequate social housing in our area.

I also raise the example of a seven year old girl with profound disabilities. Her mum is her full-time carer and her dad works in Dublin. Because of her dad's income, the family is not eligible for a grant to install a downstairs bedroom and bathroom for their daughter who they love with all their hearts and want to look after in the family home for as long as possible. However, if due consideration was given to the mortgage payments of this family, they would certainly meed the relevant threshold.

Issues such as those I have mentioned are being faced throughout the country. People are being failed, day in and day out, by policies that are not designed to support the most vulnerable in our society.

I turn now to the Rebuilding Ireland home loan. I spoke to a constituent the other day. He is a young man who works full time with a wife who also works full time and they have two small children. They made the decision to move house, as many families do throughout their lives. They sold their property at the beginning of March and we all know what came a few weeks later. They always knew that there would be a couple of weeks of overlap before their new property was ready to go, but their mortgage was pulled. They spent one week living in Ballymahon, another living in Tallaght, in the homes of their respective in-laws, while both of them were travelling to work in Athlone. Situations such as this must be taken into consideration and cannot be allowed to continue. We want and need these types of people in constituencies like mine.

There are fundamental flaws in the housing market. When families apply for social housing, they do not write down the area in which they want to live, but rather an area where they think they are most likely to be offered a house. That means that people are pulled away from our smaller towns and villages into larger areas, thereby increasing rural decline in little towns dotted around constituencies such as mine.

I also raise the issue of people who are escaping domestic abuse. Through the actions of others, such people and their children no longer feel safe in their homes. No viable options exist at the moment for them. There are not sufficient beds in refuge centres for people who believe that is the best course of action for them. My opinion is the opposite of that, and that it is the perpetrator of the abuse who should leave the home. What is to become of these people? What steps will this Government take to ensure that those who are being victimised and brutalised in their own homes are not forced to stay in an environment like that?

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