Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I call on the Leader to ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Murphy, to come before the House at some stage for a debate on the issue of housing. Limerick City and County Council and several other councils are considering a programme that proposes that people, be they widows or widowers living on their own or single people living in three or four-bedroomed houses, be given the option to downsize. While some councillors have raised concerns about issues surrounding this, it needs to be examined. Several people have called to my office expressing interest in downsizing from a three or four-bedroomed house to a smaller, perhaps one or two-bedroomed, bungalow or apartment. We need to look at this nationally. It would free up homes for families on the housing waiting lists. We need to look at the bigger picture and have a debate on the matter in this House. I ask the Leader to arrange for that to happen.