Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

It is absolutely pathetic that the only thing the Government can offer young people to reduce the price of a home is to reduce its size. Going from 37 sq. m to 32 sq. m means these units will be smaller than a mobile home. Eight of them, apparently, would fit on a playing pitch. The estimated cost reduction this will bring about is between €28,000 and €40,000. It still will not make apartments affordable for any workers, including teachers, nurses or anyone else. It will not stop the exodus. In addition, the Government is loosening the regulations for builders in regard to light and the provision of windows. Yet again, it is a developer-led system.

Fingal County Council has announced it has stopped the tenant in situ scheme. The only possible means by which a TD can save any person from homelessness has now been removed. There is nothing else. What else can we do? If someone comes to any of us with a termination notice, having gone to the Residential Tenancies Board and Threshold, what else can we offer them? The Government has taken away the budget for the scheme. In Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council, in practically the whole of Dublin and most of the country, this has gone as an option. What is the Government offering people who have termination and evictions notice pending?

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