Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In relation to spending money, taxes and USC, we have said previously that it is very important that people realise that when their money is being spent, it is being wasted. When the Government talks about housing - and it surely has done a lot of talking about housing - there is one avenue that it has not explored. We all know that there are so many vacant houses around the country, right under our noses. Each and every one of us knows that. The Government could utilise them if it allowed the same discretion to Irish people. What I mean by that is we should allow Irish people to avail of the same exemption and pay landlords the €850 tax-free sum in the same way as is done for the Ukrainian people. I am not asking that the Government stops that for them but that it gives the same leeway and the same allowance to Irish people. These are local people. They are not all Irish. There are people living here from many other countries for 20 years or more and they are on the housing list as well. To help all of them, the Government must create a level playing pitch and give the same allowance to them as it is giving to Ukrainians. A lot of house owners would avail of that because the rules are very different and the RTB is not involved. The RTB is the cause of many house owners not renting out their properties. When the RTB gets involved, your house is not your own any more. It is different with the Ukraine scheme and I am asking the Government to adapt it and use it. The Government would be able to utilise a multitude of houses in many different areas in a very short time because the houses are there. They do not have to be built. Many of them are perfectly good houses. I ask the Minister to allow that same exemption to the people on the waiting lists in this country. Many of them are on the list for up to 15 years, which is absolutely ridiculous. We are telling people with young families when they go on the housing list in Killarney, east Kerry, Kenmare or Killorglin that they will probably have to wait ten years before they are housed by the local authority. The Government would not be paying out as much HAP or rent allowance. There is an awful lot of work in administering those schemes. Even when people get HAP, they have to wait two or three months. There are housing officials involved for ages and it takes a long time to process. I ask the Government to consider this. I have been raising it for almost two years and was the very first Deputy to mention it. I am asking the Government to be fair. All we are asking in every case is for the Government to treat people fairly. Those who have been on the housing list for many years are not getting a fair crack of the whip. I ask the Minister to give the same allowance to those people.

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