The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage published a review of income eligibility for social housing support this week, which is a choice time, given that the budget would of course dominate the news cycle. The result of this report is that thresholds for social housing will rise in only five of the 31 local authority areas. This should be extended to all local authorities. I know of many constituents in County Wexford who work full-time but are sleeping on couches, going to work from bed and breakfasts or living with their elderly parents, and I even know of one person who is sleeping in a shed, all because they are barely over the income threshold for support for their housing need. When is the Government going to realise the scale of this awful social problem and act to raise the income thresholds in County Wexford and in other local authority areas? People who are barely over the threshold are trapped in a financial twilight zone and need help now.

I think the Deputy is referring to a decision to reband some local authorities and to move some council areas into a different band, but there is a wider piece of work being done by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, at the moment and he hopes to have that work concluded by the end of the year. That relates to increasing the housing limits and income thresholds across the board. We, as a Government, agree that they need to be increased because incomes have risen and because house prices have risen. The Deputy will see in the budget that, for example, we increased the income limits for the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant so more people can qualify. The same principle applies in housing in that, because incomes have risen and because house prices have risen, we need to adjust upwards those income limits. However, I cannot tell the Deputy exactly by how much because I do not know. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will be in a position to make a recommendation on that, ideally by the end of the year.