Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will correct what I said. Rents have risen by 16.4% in County Galway. This is the Simon Community's 28th report - it has been published every quarter over seven years - which gives us a snapshot over a three-day period. What does it tell us? No properties are available under HAP, which is the big scheme in town that Deputy Bacik deplored earlier. She forget to say, however, that HAP was the turning point in housing policy, when Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party stated that HAP was the only game in town and removed people from the housing waiting list.

I welcome the Minister's comment that he is not happy with HAP, even if he says we cannot get rid of it overnight. We have to recognise that was the crucial turning point in the commodification and privatisation of housing. That is what happened. It was back to a task force. A task force was set up. Surely it has a job to do in a limited time, that is, to focus on the emergency and to come up with a report. Instead, it appears to have become part of the establishment, and I say that reluctantly, when the manager and the management should be doing their job, highlighting if there is not enough money, coming back to the Government and giving us a master plan for Galway to sort out the housing problem.

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