Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the previous speakers. I think the scheme should be reviewed. An independent assessment should be carried out. I too have been here for a number of finance Bills. We keep pleading for this year in and year out. There was a group outside the Dáil today with 56 black balloons representing the number of homeless people who have lost their lives in this city this year. It is a truly shocking figure. That is replicated up and down the country.

We never used to have homelessness in Tipperary but now we have it with gusto. There are large waiting lists for houses. We are just not building the houses. We are supporting couples and people to build houses who do not need the support because they can build them themselves.

I was on the housing committee for the past four years and we talked and talked about housing. If talk, reports and paper could build houses, there would not be a homeless person in the country.

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