Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Adam Higgins has written a story published in today's newspaper about a young woman named Lauren. She is now waiting five months for her housing assistance payment, HAP, application to be processed. She is one of thousands. The people processing it in Fingal County Council have been advised by management in a message sent to staff and seen by The Sun:

Citizens requesting an update on their HAP application should not be advised that it is taking [x] number of months or weeks. Nor should they be advised what month we are currently processing. The advice should be that we are dealing with a large volume of applications and it is simply not possible to indicate when they may be processed.

It is really hard to find a landlord who will take HAP. It is €2,000 a month for rent. Factor in a deposit, plus five months' waiting, and that is €12,000. With the greatest of respect, if Lauren had €12,000 she would not need HAP.

I ask the Taoiseach to do two very simple things. Will he engage with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to see if additional staff can be provided to Fingal County Council? I have already written to the Minister; he is well aware of this situation as it is in his constituency. Will the Taoiseach instruct the Department of Social Protection to give people the money they will need, pending their application being resolved?

These people are in desperate circumstances. The wait is unacceptable at this stage.

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