Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have spoken to the Taoiseach about this issue before, as I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. Daily, I have people coming into my clinics in Carlow who are waiting to be assessed to go on the housing list. At the moment, the waiting time to join the list is between ten and 12 weeks. That is unacceptable. I can say that the girls in Carlow County Council and the staff are excellent, but I believe that we need more staff. I know people that are waiting to be assessed and they cannot rent a property because they are waiting to get the HAP. They are actually couch-surfing. I ask the Taoiseach to address it. As I have said, I am waiting to get a Bill introduced to change the waiting period to three to four weeks, because I think no one should wait that length of time. It is urgent.

I welcome the information the Taoiseach has provided today. We have a number of new schemes, including the affordable housing scheme, the first home scheme and the vacant property grant. They are all really good schemes. We probably need to get more information out on those schemes. Many people who come into my office are not really aware of how many good schemes are available. I am working with people at the moment who are applying for mortgages, which is really good, to Carlow County Council. As the Taoiseach is aware, applicants have to get everything ready, give it to the local authority, and then the application goes to the Department for approval. The timescale on waiting to hear from the Department is absolutely unacceptable. The other issue is that currently, there is a 55% refusal rate, through the Department, on mortgages. These are local authority mortgages that we are encouraging people to apply for. I am aware that the Taoiseach is working hard on this to try to get the challenges in housing sorted. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, about it. These issues really need to be addressed.

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