Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Acting Chairman. The Minister can respond to the point on her return. In Killarney town, which is where I live, it is next to impossible to find accommodation for a family with three children for less than €540 a month. The cost is €520 for a family with two children and €500 for a family with one child. It is not possible to find rental accommodation for the amount of money provided by the rent supplement in Killarney. I invite the Minister or anyone else to find accommodation on Daft or anywhere else for less than the amounts I outlined. It cannot be found. We are driving people out into the countryside. Some people cannot go there and they are desperate. They do not have a car and they have young children and cannot get into town to schools and for other reasons. Homelessness is not a big problem in the area but it will become one if we do not revise the cap on rent supplement or incorporate it with the housing assistance payment, HAP, in order that people can take up employment. At the moment people are deterred from taking up employment because they will lose their rent supplement. We need to transfer the rent supplement to HAP so that people can pay a differential rent and take up employment. Thank you, Acting Chairman, for allowing to make the point. I could speak for another ten minutes on rent supplement.