Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----through local authorities and voluntary housing trusts. That is a fundamental difference.

We are not the only ones proposing rent certainty. There is a great deal of support for rent certainty. The organisations that support this approach are Focus Ireland, the Peter McVerry Trust, the Simon Community, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, DEPAUL Ireland, Merchants Quay Ireland, Threshold, the Dublin Homeless Network and the Cork Homeless Network, to name but a few. These are the people who are dealing with the people on the streets. They pick up the pieces after the failed strategies to date. I would take their opinion much more than I would take a lecture from the likes of Fianna Fáil about flawed legislation being brought forward.

The Minister said we need a long-term reaction to the crisis. We have never said that rent certainty is the panacea that will fix everything, but we need an immediate intervention in the market to make a difference. Sinn Féin sees this Bill as a very small part of many different measures we brought forward in our alternative budget. I am sure all the Members have read that and I wish they would have taken more of our ideas on board. We believe this Bill is very important.

I want to put on the record some of the different suggestions made to us. We have suggested, within the fiscal space available, that in addition to introducing the rent certainty measures, an additional €8 million in funding would be provided for domestic violence refuges, an additional €24 million for homelessness, €15.75 million for housing adaptation grants, an extra €10 million for the warmer homes scheme, €16.65 million for the local government fund-----