Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On page 55 of the programme for Government, there is a commitment to introduce a social housing passport to allow households to move from one local authority housing list to another. This provision has been in every single programme for Government for the past 15 years, but there does not seem to be any movement on it. Bizarrely, there does not seem to be any objection to it on the Government's side. Maybe the reason it is not happening is inertia or a complete lack of interest.

I will explain the impact this has by way of illustration from one of my constituents. She was in Dublin city and was on the DCC list. She could not find anywhere to live so she moved to Balbriggan. She has now been in Balbriggan for 12 years, having spent 14 years on the DCC list. She nominated Balbriggan as one of her areas. Now she is imminently close to being housed in Dublin city, but she cannot be expected to have put her whole life on hold in the intervening time. She has had kids, she has worked in Balbriggan and her partner works in Balbriggan. She now has to choose between moving back into Dublin city, or losing those years and going onto the Fingal list, where she will stay for approximately 13 years. When will we get the social housing passport?

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