Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to talk about this Bill. We really wish to do so. I thank the Sinn Féin Party for bringing the Bill before us. Speaking honestly, it deals with one of the biggest problems any elected public representative has, whether a Member of Dáil Éireann, a county councillor or whatever. Housing is the big issue of the day and ensuring people have a roof over their head is a very laudable aspiration.

One of the issues I have been raising for quite a while is the social housing income cap which is responsible for people not getting on the housing list or being thrown off the list because they are above it. I do not know whether the caps are the same in different local authority areas. In Kerry, a couple with three children who go over €33,600 will be thrown off the list or cannot get on it. It is very unfortunate. I have found that, in many instances, what puts a couple over the cap is family income supplement. If people are in need of family income supplement, they surely are in need of a local authority house because they are not in a position to build a house or get a loan. That issue needs to be addressed.

I asked the previous Government to rectify this and I am asking the same of the current Government.

The Government says that it is reducing housing lists, but they are being reduced unfairly. Some 33,600 people cannot get loans from any of the financial institutions. Different types of homeless people seem to be put into the same place. They may be suffering from addiction. That is not acceptable.

In Kerry, we seem to be going backwards. The homes of farmers and rural people fall into disrepair and they cannot live in them. Sometimes the houses fall down. We used to be able to provide demountable dwellings for those people, but that does not happen any more. Not enough rural cottages are being built.

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