Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that the banding in Clare has been changed so that the threshold to qualify has gone from €26,000 to €30,000 or €27,5000 to €33,000 in the case of a family of four. That is still a low threshold, which artificially keeps the housing list for Clare low. It needs to be looked at, particularly now that we have such inflation. There will be wage inflation, which will see fewer people qualify for social housing and will increase the pressure for affordable housing, because a large cohort will not be able to buy a house. We previously discussed the affordable housing scheme. No local authority houses are being built in Clare at the moment. This forces people to try to get into the market, which puts further pressure on it. Under the other scheme, local authorities will take an equity share but, essentially, everybody is competing for the same houses unless the local authority builds houses.

The local authorities need to build houses, for social housing and for affordable housing schemes.

See this speech in context