Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Both Ministers will receive examples today. We can be critical of local authorities at times, but my experience of the officials who are involved in these assessments is that they want to enable people who need housing to get it. They want to work with these families. It is more likely to be an issue in the large urban centres, where incomes and rent are probably that bit higher. I think €37,500 is the highest net income threshold for a couple with children. It does not take very much for a double income family to be above that threshold. Many families are skirting the edges of that threshold. A 12-month average applied too rigidly can mean that even though what someone was earning last month and what he or she is expecting to earn at the end of the year might be below the threshold, doing a few months of overtime or a new project in work can take him or her above the threshold. I imagine what the Minister is saying to the Minister of State is that the discretion is still there. That does not seem to be how it is working on the ground. The local authorities do not seem to be getting it.

See this speech in context