These are not landlords.

Sentiment score: 0.00

A total of 91% per cent of them are not landlords.

Sentiment score: 0.00

Fine Gael's manifesto for the last election states: Fine Gael will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will unequivocally support Ukraine. I presume Fianna Fáil's manifesto said something similar. The Government supports them as long as it can use them to drive an agenda of militarisation and undermining of neutrality. However, when it comes to Ukrainian people who have fled Putin's imperialist invasion to this country, the Government is happy to use them as a scapegoat, to impose cuts on them and to have the spectre of homelessness in front of them. It cut the payment for accommodation providers, which does not go directly to Ukrainians, from €800 to €600. There are reports that the Government is going to cut it further to €400 as a step towards winding down the scheme. The result of this, if the Government follows through and if there is not a significant change in terms of the number of people who are here, will be loads of people thrown into homelessness. It will make the housing crisis worse. If this is what happens, do not worry. We will be clear in terms of who has been calling for this and who is responsible for it which is both the Government and Sinn Féin, if they actually throw all these people onto the housing market and worsen the crisis. We know from the research by the Irish Red Cross that the ARP is not squeezing renters; trying to find a place to rent is. It is disappointing to hear Sinn Féin amplifying that misleading narrative, which comes from people on the far right who are opposed to all immigration.

Sentiment score: -0.15

The Deputy can look at the figures. It does not make any sense for landlords to use this scheme. I am not saying we will not find the odd case here or there. It does not make any sense because people can make more money in other ways. They can make up to €1,166 a month tax-free from the rent-a-room scheme. They can get €600 from this, and they are going to be able to get €400 in the future. The vast majority, 71% are people living in host homes so they do not have a whole property to go. If they have a whole property, obviously, they could get much worse than that. If the Government proceeds with the cuts, the result will be people exiting the scheme. We know that 86% of people say they could not continue to host without the ARP. We know this is because we are in a cost-of-living crisis that is getting worse. If it is ended, there could be 35,000 people suddenly trying to find private rental accommodation. The vast majority are women and children who would end up homeless, sleeping rough or trying to access totally overstretched emergency accommodation. We have a scheme that is cheap for the State and is providing accommodation for people. The idea that the Government needs to cut it back and try to bring it to an end makes no sense whatsoever. It just serves to pit ordinary people against each other and it would make the housing crisis worse.

Sentiment score: -0.19