Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here today and for their submissions on this legislation.

I will just clarify something because the discussion of social housing versus homeless emergency accommodation is often conflated and we should not contribute to that confusion. I presume the witnesses all agree that social housing should be long-term, permanent secure homes and that the emergency homeless accommodation should be just that - emergency and short-term for those who have an immediate need. My understanding is that what the Department is trying to do here, and we will hear from the officials later, is to clean up the policy around the social housing criteria. In so doing, we need to be very careful that any changes it will make improve the situation and do not make it worse and certainly do not create other problems about which I see the witnesses all waving red flags, which is really important. We will take that up with the Department. For the social housing system to work for our citizens, however, it has to be properly managed and properly resourced.

We all know we are coming out of a decade of undersupply and it is great to see the supply increasing, but it is not going to be any use, or its value will be undermined, if it is not properly managed and sized to meet the demand. There is huge frustration. I deal with people every day who are on the social housing list and trying to progress on it. There is, therefore, huge frustration if they believe that list is not being accurately managed and that the data and those who are on it are not being fairly and equitably managed. That is a real concern for many people I deal with every day. We need to get this right to be fair to everyone who applies to the system.

The witnesses said they think there should be further and broader stakeholder engagement. Obviously, these hearings are a form of consultation. Which further stakeholders would they each suggest should be engaged? How long should the consultation take? Are there any other suggestions they want to make about that? Maybe we could start with Ms O'Reilly.