Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome. I tabled this matter in order to ask the Government to consider increasing the income threshold for housing assistance supports from the current rate of €30,000 for a family in band 3 - which includes those in my county of Mayo - to €50,000. I have tabled this matter on foot of a motion that was passed by councillors in Mayo calling for just that. We have been looking for this for a very long time. It is quite obvious that the income thresholds that are currently in place are extremely low. There are three bands, with €30,000 as the upper limit in a county like Mayo. It goes up above €40,000 in Dublin. That is still extremely low by any standard. It essentially precludes low-income working families and households from accessing social housing supports. We need to change this. We need to make sure social housing is available for many more people. We know the demand and the need is there. I do not think there is any public representative in this country who does not know about the need to expand the threshold and increase the income limits. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply. I know there is a review ongoing in the Department on this issue. I would welcome an update that I might pass on to my colleagues on Mayo County Council.