Five Fine Gael representatives, including a sitting TD, have signed a cross-party letter sent by Sinn Féin to the Minister for Housing asking him to increase funding for a scheme aimed at preventing families from becoming homeless when their landlord sells up.
Sinn Féin said the letter asks the Minister, Fianna Fáil TD James Browne, to release funding for the tenant in situ scheme, which allows local authorities to step in and buy rental properties when landlords put them on the market.
Cork City Council has reportedly said funding it has received for the scheme is inadequate to meet its existing commitments for 2025, while acquisitions for this year have ceased.
Sinn Féin said most of Cork city’s elected representatives had signed the letter.
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The signatories include Colm Burke, Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central and until recently a minister of state. He was dropped by Tánaiste Simon Harris after the new Government was appointed.
Mr Burke said signing the letter was not a partisan move. He and others have been elected to help address housing and other constituency issues, he said.
“We’re looking after our constituents in Cork North Central, and that’s what I want to do,” he said on Thursday.
He is the only Government TD to attach his name to the letter, which was also signed by Sinn Féin’s Cork city TDs Thomas Gould and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, as well as Ken O’Flynn of Independent Ireland, Eoghan Kenny of the Labour Party and Pádraig Rice of the Social Democrats.
Four Fine Gael councillors also signed: Damian Boylan, Des Cahill, Gary O’Brien and Shane O’Callaghan. No Fianna Fáil TDs or councillors signed the letter.
The letter to Mr Browne outlines how the scheme “saved 79 families from homelessness” in Cork last year, with a further 33 families currently at the “sale agreed” stage.
“We are deeply concerned that the funding provided to Cork City Council is insufficient to complete sales already committed to and to subsequently prevent future homelessness,” it reads.
“We are asking you to reconsider this funding allocation to reopen the scheme to new applicants and to urgently supply interim funding to allow Cork City Council [to] meet its pre-existing commitments.”
