Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It does not make any sense but the Government seems to take every opportunity to make the housing crisis even worse. We have heard during the debate about the number of people, some 2,500 households, who were saved from homelessness. Families with children, couples and single people, including pensioners, have been prevented from enduring long stays in emergency accommodation because councils were able to buy their private homes. We know the scheme works. The question for the Minister is why he has not signed off on the scheme and why councils are waiting for an answer from his Department.

I was dealing earlier with a case of a family whose landlord is going out to the market tomorrow, having already got in a valuer. The house has gone up by €30,000 in value since it went into this scheme. The landlord will say he is giving all the information and the local authority will say it has all the information, but it has not been able to sign off on the scheme. There are problems with the scheme but it is a lifeline for ordinary families. We are asking that the Minister throw out that lifeline, give certainty to the market and resolve this outstanding issue.

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