Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Could the Minister provide me with a bit more detail on affordable housing and how that was delivered? At my last meeting with Cavan County Council, my understanding was that it had not delivered any affordable housing? Does that mean it was done through the approved housing bodies or was it done by the council? I am not being critical of approved housing bodies, which do excellent work. We have quite a significant number of people on the housing list or in receipt of housing supports. More than 1,900 people in Cavan are in receipt of HAP. Not all of them are on the social housing list and many of those who are not on the list but are receiving HAP cannot afford to rent at current prices and cannot save for a deposit. They feel they are in no man's land. They need a large-scale affordable housing scheme where they can purchase or rent at affordable prices. Many other people are not in receipt of HAP because they are living at home with parents or sofa surfing among friends because they cannot find anywhere that will accept HAP. Even if they did, the rents are so sky high, they could not afford it and the council would not approve it anyway.

See this speech in context