Brian Brennan (Wicklow-Wexford, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am dealing with two families, a brother and sister, one of whom lives in Arklow while the other lives just down the road in Coolgreany. There is a difference of €650 in the payment they receive. Since opening my constituency offices in Gorey and Arklow, the most prominent issue for people coming in the door has been housing. Day in, day out, I meet people just trying to find a place to live, so they can send their kids to the local school, go to work and build a life in the community. They are getting nowhere. There are roadblocks all along the way for these people, as we all know, and one of the biggest is the cost of renting.

The HAP is one of the systems we have in place to support these people in paying their rent. As the examples I cited show, it is not fit for purpose. It is not enough to ask local authorities to look at using their discretion in every case, as the Minister of State mentioned. There are a lot of cases in Wexford but they are only allowed to negotiate discretion of up to 35%. We need to look at every case that is over the limit.

I acknowledge the efforts that have been made across the board by the local authorities in bringing more housing stock into their portfolios. I note Irish Water will be before the Joint Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery later today. We need to get answers. I understand the bigger issue is housing stock but my focus today is on HAP and levelling the playing field between Wicklow and Wexford or between Wexford and anywhere else in Ireland.

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