Sinn Féin has cautiously welcomed the Government's housing and homelessness action plan.

Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh welcomed the plan however he said he is worried about the lack of movement for those who are in mortgage difficulty and may face losing their home.

He said: "The commitment in the Programme for Government to set up a special court to deal with these cases seems to have disappeared.

"I attended the Repossessions Court in Galway recently where 120 families were up in front of the registrar due to mortgage difficulties. This startling figure should be a wakeup call to the Government that this remains a key problem facing families.

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"The issue of rent certainty also seems to have been put on the long finger not because of the complexity of getting to grips with it but by a sheer lack of political will to deal with a broken private rental sector. Sinn Féin have never shied away from asserting that this lack of political will directly correlates with the number of TDs in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil who have a direct interest in the private rental sector.

"Unfortunately, Fianna Fáil, in spite of referencing rent certainty in the lead up to the election, felt that they could not support a Bill proposed by Sinn Féin to deal with this issue. Fianna Fáil prevented rent certainty now being law."

(CD/MH)