I commend Deputies Ó Broin, Ward and O'Reilly on bringing forward this Bill. I support it completely, and the Social Democrats will support it as well. We think it is very straightforward and sensible legislation that should be pursued and implemented as quickly as possible. It is disappointing that the Minister of State has tabled the timed amendment. I understand that he says that it is to engage with the Bill. I genuinely hope he means that and this is not just a delay tactic. I would have thought that the Government would have just allowed it to go forward to committee and we could engage with it and progress it. That is not to say this is not complex. It is complex, absolutely, and I acknowledge that, but there is clearly a need for it as well. We have heard cases put forward today. I think there is an acceptance that in previous Government commitments there has been an acceptance that there is a need for a social housing passport. It makes sense. What is clear when you read the Bill, as put forward, is that it is not a generalised free-for-all whereby people can go wherever they want. It very clearly sets out that it is on exceptional grounds and based on need. A number of them are outlined, such as domestic violence, situations of education, employment, medical treatment and compassionate grounds. We can think of many circumstances where there might be a situation. Ireland is a small country. It is not some massive place where people do not have connections. People have family connections across this country. I think of someone who falls ill, someone who acquires a severe injury and who wants to try to move back close to family, adults who have children and whose parents may be living elsewhere or have moved elsewhere and who want to try to get support from them because childcare is so expensive. There are many reasons we could see situations - and we know of them - in which people would be able to move and bring their time spent on a housing list with them. As I said, the Bill sets out very clearly that the Minister can and should put forward regulations that would stipulate what the grounds are. Of course, the councils could find ways in which it is not about even equivalence of time to a person living locally but is about being able to transfer the time and the need. We want to make social housing and public housing what it is in other countries, which is a tenure that people really want to live in and aspire to live in, but one that is not stigmatised, which, unfortunately, is what 40 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy has done. It has undermined and stigmatised it. I have written a lot about this, about how it was stated many times that social housing estates were failed, that it was a failed tenure, that it just created ghettos. This was a whole shift away from social housing. It is fundamentally why we are in this crisis, but part of it is that kind of overly bureaucratic approach to the delivery of social housing. Social housing should be a tenure that enables people to live the lives they want to live. In particular, Fine Gael is a party, it says, about employment, enterprise and enabling people and helping them lift themselves up. Surely the ability to move for employment would be a key thing that would enable people to do that. We all believe social housing, receipt of social housing and receipt of social welfare should not stop people advancing in terms of employment, education or social mobility. They should be able to go along with them in order that they facilitate and support them, but this is actually stopping that because there are inevitably people turning down employment and education because they would lose their time on social housing waiting lists. Creating a modern public housing system that supports people to develop in their lives and progress should include this measure. As I said, it is not a free-for-all but has very clear grounds set out around it. I want to talk a bit about the issue of the housing assistance payment and RAS because there is a real issue, as the Minister of State knows, with HAP in that people in receipt of it, once they get it, are taken off the housing waiting list and are asked if they want to go on a transfer list. Some people fill out that form; others do not or are not aware of it. We therefore have these 56,000 households that are not on the housing waiting list. I am really shocked that the new measure the Government has brought in for victims of domestic abuse and people fleeing domestic violence and domestic abuse does not apply to HAP or RAS. I am absolutely astounded by that. It is completely wrong. People on HAP, as I am sure the Minister of State is well aware, are evicted and are at high risk in terms of housing poverty and housing insecurity. HAP is a precarious form of housing, and the idea that their housing needs are met is just completely flawed. Looking at domestic violence, Deputy O'Reilly set out a case which is really heartbreaking, and it is wrong that someone is left in that situation. We are seeing an epidemic of domestic violence by men, and the housing crisis is absolutely worsening it, with women not having the freedom to leave and being stuck in situations. That is absolutely wrong. It puts their lives in jeopardy and, ultimately, in some situations, is inevitably leading to them being murdered or losing their lives in their own homes because they cannot find a safe place. Refuges are full. One way the State can support women leaving situations of domestic violence is enabling them to move with a social housing passport. It should be applied to the housing assistance payment and RAS. I assume - I hope - that that will be done as soon as possible because it is absolutely wrong that the State is leaving people in that situation. In particular, I hope the Minister of State intervenes in the case Deputy O'Reilly has brought up. In addition, as Deputy Devine said, this situation is unacceptable to us as a society, so we need to do everything we can. I thank the Deputies for the work done on the Bill. I support it and I hope the Government is genuine in terms of engaging with it.

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