Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully agree with the Minister that rent supplement should be a temporary emergency measure. I fundamentally disagree with the Government's policy since 2014 of moving people into HAP, which is blatantly unjust and is bolstering the private market. Some €600 million and rising is going straight into the private market. The Minister talked about the HAP scheme being designed simply. It is unacceptable to put it like that. Somebody who qualifies for HAP gets differential rent which is capped at a certain level. They must then come up with the money to pay the landlord, while the State funds go straight into his bank account. It is not sustainable. It is utter madness to go down this road of continually bolstering the private market.

Galway has an emergency task force on housing, which I welcome. The minutes are not even available from the June meeting. There is no recognition that there is a problem here.

See this speech in context