Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I think I drew enough fire from them yesterday. They may be done with me for one week.

I welcome the additional funding of more than €10 million for homeless services that was announced in the budget. That is particularly important for the Dublin region where we are facing a very serious homeless crisis in spite of the work of front-line organisations and the Dublin region homeless executive. It is most welcome and will make a real difference for people who are in very severe need. I also welcome the €2.2 billion that was announced for social housing construction over the next three years. An announcement that was not made relates to rent supplement budget for it and the current cap on rental values for houses people on social welfare can rent in the private rental market. I am hopeful, because there is an ongoing review of rent supplement, that those limits will be increased once the review is complete. Will the Leader arrange for the Tánaiste to come to the House at some point to discuss rent supplement and the reforms that should perhaps be made in the rent supplement budget.

I also ask for two other debates. One relates to the announcement, which we discussed last week, of the Central Bank Governor, Professor Honohan on changing the limits on mortgage lending. There is a consultation process under way in respect of that. The House should have an input to that consultation process. There has been a lot of discussion and debate over recent days about this proposed measure and its implications, especially for young people struggling to purchase a home. This is a serious issue that needs to be discussed.

I also ask for a debate on the private rented sector. We are seeing a significant number of people who are trapped in renting and will be for the foreseeable future. They are facing enormous rent increases with no effective limits being put on those rent increases and no effective security of tenure. We are asking people to live long-term in rented housing. We need to be able to provide rented housing that is safe, secure and affordable. Could we have a debate on the private rented sector?