Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have raised the issue several times in the past of how Carlow County Council has one of the lowest income thresholds for people seeking inclusion on its housing list. As the Minister of State is aware, unless a person is on a local authority housing list, he or she will not get rent allowance or housing assistance payment, HAP. To qualify for Carlow County Council's housing list, the maximum net income for two adults with one child is €26,875 and €27,500 for two adults with more than one child. In Kildare, the limit is €38,000 for two adults with one child and €39,000 for two adults with more than one child.There is a difference of approximately €11,000 between Kildare and Carlow. The difference between Kilkenny and Carlow is approximately €6,500. Given that ours is the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency, why would people want to apply to Carlow County Council when they can join the housing list in Kilkenny while earning €6,500 more? That is a significant amount. The difference between Wicklow and Carlow and Wexford and Carlow are similar at €11,000 and €6,000, respectively. The only authority that is equivalent to us is Laois. These two authorities have the lowest thresholds.

I will provide some statistics. Recently, I dealt with three or four cases in my clinic. In one, a family had just one working member who was bringing home between €350 and €400 per week, which entitled that family to the family income supplement, FIS. When people qualify for FIS, it means that they are not earning enough and the Government is helping to bring them up to what they should get. However, someone in receipt of FIS does not qualify to get on Carlow County Council's housing list because it puts people over the threshold. Imagine someone with an income of €500 and rent of €250 per week being told that he or she does not qualify for Carlow County Council's housing list due to being over the threshold.

We have a housing crisis, yet people who are trying to work and make ends meet and who qualify for FIS are being told that they do not qualify for a housing list. Do they give up work, get their entitlements and go on the housing list or are we not meant to tell them that they can work and we will help them? By giving them FIS, we are putting them over the threshold for the housing list. I have encountered several such cases recently. It is an awful situation for any family to be in.

I also wish to discuss HAP, which gives rise to a similar issue. Under HAP, a one-time payment for a deposit is allowed, but it comes from the Intreo offices of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I recently encountered a number of cases in this regard. When someone finds a house and a landlord who will accept HAP, the person is delighted. If a deposit is required, fair enough. If it is a first-time deposit, I will tell the person that he or she is entitled to get a deposit but that it will be needed quickly. If the person instead borrows for the first-time deposit, which many do because a landlord will naturally want that security, he or she will be told that there is no entitlement as a result. Young people and families who have borrowed from families and friends are approaching me. They might only be borrowing the €1,000, which is a great deal, as €200 here or €200 there. I will give them a letter vouching for that. However, when they attend an Intreo office, they are told that they do not qualify for their first-time deposits because of the money they borrowed. This means that they will lose their houses, rendering them homeless.

We have Rebuilding Ireland and the Minister of State is doing his best, but there are many teething problems and the people on the ground are being forgotten. I hope that the Minister of State will address these points and revert to me as soon as possible.