Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was the first Minister since 2011 to increase the social housing income limits.

We increased them all across the country and they remain under review. We need to increase our own stock of social housing. In the four years of this Government, we have been able to do that and to scale up the capacity to deliver. Certainly, there is much more to do. I only used Shanganagh as an example; I could give the Deputy 20 more. He only has to drive around his own constituency, around Dublin or anywhere across the Twenty-six Counties of the Republic to see what developments are happening right now. Cost rental is making a difference, by the way, for lots of people.

I want to answer the Deputy specifically about seniors. He raised a very good point. There are a lot of people who are retired and on a State pension. It is a big focus to ensure we have right-sizing initiatives in place for people and that local authorities are building homes for seniors and our more vulnerable people.

Another challenge is exiting people from insecure housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancies. In the past three years, we have exited 14,000 people from HAP into permanent, safe and secure social homes. We will continue the purchase of homes with the tenant in situ scheme, which has been a success, this year.

See this speech in context