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

I add my Christmas wishes to the Minister, his departmental staff, my colleagues in the Opposition and in the Government, and the Oireachtas staff who do such a crucial job.

I was relieved to see the increase. It is not perfect. There are questions and issues to be addressed, but I was relieved. The issue of income thresholds was something we increasingly saw in our offices. It created a number of problems. It added to the group of people who fell in that gap between being able to afford a commercial mortgage and qualifying for social housing. That is still very significant. While we can talk about cost rental, cost purchase and so on, it is not anywhere near enough to the income scales. I have previously raised with the Minister the need to significantly increase the targets in that regard. The second problem the thresholds created was for people who were just in or around the income limits and were removed from the housing lists. I do not think that was the intention but last year's circular added to that problem because there was an increased rigidity to the approach taken by local authorities. I met with officials from the Department - I thank them for meeting me - on that issue, which unintentionally added to the problem.

For those of us fortunate enough to be in a position to buy or own homes, and to live in homes we buy, we think in terms of deposits, equity and so on. The phrase I always use in respect of people on social housing lists is that time spent on the list is "money in the bank". I believe the Minister understands this but I am not sure that everyone in this institution understands that this time is equivalent to money in the bank. It is tangible and something people come to rely upon. When that is removed from them, it is a crushing blow. I welcome the fact there is a look-back. It should be longer because this problem has been going on for a long time. This issue is potentially likely to arise again. I will make a suggestion. Of course, inflation will continue and wages will potentially increase and so on but I am of the view that local authorities should be in a position to indefinitely pause or freeze an application. Anyone can have a good year or two. That does not mean they will ever be in a position to buy their own homes in the long run. A file could be put on ice for a year or two and if after two years people do not accumulate credit time but exceed it, they could then be restored to their place on previous credit time.

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