Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have lost count of the number of couples I have been working with who have been removed from the housing waiting lists because they exceeded limits by just a couple of hundred euro in some instances. The system as it applies to County Monaghan is designed so that any couple of which a single party is working will not make it onto the social housing waiting list. The income limit for County Monaghan for a family of two adults and two children is €27,500 per annum. Those people will never qualify for a mortgage. The prospect of private homeownership is not available to them. The Government has provided for precisely zero affordable homes in County Monaghan under the affordable housing scheme. What are we supposed to say to those families who fall into that trap? Should we tell them to rent forever and face the ever-increasing rent prices and costs? Should they essentially remain nomadic for the rest of their lives? My appeal to the Minister of State is not only to review but to create a system so that flexibility can be allowed for those people who breach income limits that have been set too robustly up until this point.

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