Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister. I accept that the Government's plan for housing is working but unfortunately it is working too slowly. It is not working fast enough to be able to feed the market that is ever growing. That market is caused by, in some cases, tenancies being terminated by landlords for whatever reason. There is no blame on anybody but the tenants have been given a deadline. I am dealing at the moment with about 50 such cases in my constituency. Presently these people are overholding. They have nowhere else to go. It is either that, go out on the road or pay massive rents that they have no chance whatsoever of paying. Their incomes are too high to qualify for a local authority house; their incomes are too low to feature, insofar as a loan is concerned, in the ordinary way and the prospects for them are not great. Will a special effort be made to bring them into the arena whereby they can see for themselves how they can resolve their housing problem within a reasonable time?

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