Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and I congratulate him, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Browne on the work here. It is a very important piece of work and is a credit to all of them.

I wish to raise an issue on which I have spoken to a number of asylum seekers and I know that this is not a universal one but is about the plans on housing. Many have told me that they do not necessarily want the housing assistance payment, HAP. They are working and capable of work and of earning, want more flexibility than that, and do not want a system that requires them to participate in a HAP-type model where they feel that they do not necessarily need it. I just wanted to highlight that point of flexibility within the work that the Minister is developing. It is certainly part of the feedback that I have received directly from people who are working in the medical and caring sectors, particularly in different parts of the country where there is less relative pressure on prices for rental accommodation and where they may have other arrangements available to them. I ask that the Minister keep that flexibility in mind from this feedback that I am giving him today.

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