Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

This amendment is not appropriate to subsection (4) which deals with the eligibility of households for social housing support by virtue of their current circumstances regarding income, availability of alternative accommodation, etc. The description of the particular housing needs in terms of medical needs and so forth is covered by subsection (6), which provides that:

The Minister may make regulations providing for the matters by reference to which a household's need for social housing support and the form of such support shall be determined including, but not necessarily limited to, the following:

(a) the description and classification of household need;

(b) the description of specific accommodation requirements according to different categories of household need;

(c) the description of accommodation need based on the composition of the household.

The proposed amendment also refers to the promotion of social inclusion and the development of sustainable communities. These aspects are more appropriate to housing strategies and, in the context of the Bill, to allocation policies as set out in section 22. In those circumstances, I ask the Senator to withdraw the amendment.