Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are here to discuss the living wage. Specifically, we are talking about ensuring that people have sufficient money to meet their absolute needs. We are not talking about their wants, but about their needs and about the basic level of income required to live normally in our society. It should be a given that we provide this as a society. Otherwise, we will be providing people with insufficient money to live their lives.

We all know about the situation we are in with the cost-of-living crisis. We know that some of the latter-day sins of this State involve some of the costs that are heaped on people, and that is specific to housing. We have all had people come into our constituency offices and we all know people who are suffering because they have to pay inordinate rents. We know people who are struggling to get on the housing lists and we know the income thresholds need to be looked at. These thresholds are constantly being reviewed but we never see an end result. There is a problem with how assessments are made, with local authorities being forced to take account of earnings for the entire year. This can throw up certain anomalies which can prevent people, on a technicality, from getting onto a housing list. It has even cost people who have been on the housing list for years the chance to avail of a house. In some cases, people apply and are added to the housing list but then go back to receiving the HAP, having not secured a house for which they have waited many years.

I raised the HAP with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage a number of times last week. I mentioned that people cannot enter into a payment plan now, which may be necessary if someone becomes sick. I also raised the specific case of someone who worked in healthcare being unable to get a payment plan. This person had legacy arrears of around €1,600 and was asked to pay them straight away. That is criminal. Where will people get that sort of money? In some cases, people will enter into payment plans and even if they are broken, they will clear the arrears. Everybody is a winner there. The only alternative is to ask people to borrow from moneylenders or to put them into homelessness. That still leaves local authorities on the hook for delivering but puts people through unbelievable hardship and difficulty.

Large numbers of elected representatives are busy dealing with a new disaster the Government needs to address. We know about the issue with rentals. Even people who are earning money are struggling to get mortgages. We have all heard the abysmal figures on the Government's offering in the area of affordable housing. The local authority in County Louth will deliver 226 houses between 2022 and 2026. This will not cut it. We need far more innovation, imagination and creativity, while also dealing with the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. It is not beyond us to deal with these issues. A living wage is one of the solutions we can provide. We need to look at the mitigations that are necessary in the area of home heating oil, fuel and the energy crisis. I raised the specific issue of Carlinn Hall in Dundalk a number of times and I expect it to be dealt with very quickly.

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