Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Chairman. I thank the departmental representatives for attending. I am the person who requested that they attend to brief the committee on a number of issues, one of which is the important matter of rent caps. My firm belief is that the rent caps are too low across the country. Rents are demand-led. I will speak about the area I know best - Killarney - where there is a huge demand for rental properties. Rents have decreased somewhat but not significantly. The cost of renting a property in Killarney is still very high. In the guide for the Kerry area a single person is asked to stay below the cap of €84 per week. Nowhere in Killarney town will one find accommodation on offer for €84 per week.

We are forcing tenants to give a top-up in cash to their landlords. Most people I have dealt with are operating through this scheme. They are getting the landlord to say the rent is €84 and then top it up with cash. No one can deny that is going on across the country. A landlord will make €30 that he does not have to declare for tax purposes as it is cash under the table.

To get decent accommodation in Killarney on the rent allowance scheme, one would have to go 15 miles outside the town. Many people do not have cars but they are being forced out there to try to find rental accommodation within the cap limits. I understand there is a review under way of the caps in the allowance. What will the review do? It is impossible to get information from the Department on the review and the new limits. What does the Department propose for rent limits?

Victims of domestic violence are finding it impossible to access rent supplement because they have a house in their own name. This is driving them back into the home from which they had to leave due to domestic violence. The Seanad had a useful debate on this matter last week and this was one issue that was raised.

I made a suggestion on rent deposits to the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, who ran it past the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, and which will be introduced as an amendment in the Seanad to the residential tenancy Bill. Over the past six years, the State has paid out €30 million in deposits for rental accommodation, none of which has been recouped. The Minister agreed with me in the Seanad about this although the representatives do not appear to agree with me. If money has been recouped, perhaps they could tell us how much. I understand people move on but the money is not paid back to the Department. I have suggested that, instead of handing out cash, we introduce a guarantee scheme so if the rented property was damaged, the rent was in arrears or the tenants leave, the Department would then give over the deposit to the landlord but not beforehand. This would also mean the Department could use the money rather than having it sit in landlords’ accounts.

In the presentation, the Department stated it did not have statistics. Why is that the case? Surely it is the Department’s job to have statistics and make them available to us. The Department stated a rent supplement application can be assessed in five days. I have dealt with many applications but have never seen one assessed in five days. As a matter of fact, it can be five weeks and in some cases five months. It is very disingenuous of the Department to make this claim about assessing an application in five days. Surely the Department has statistics from its offices around the country to show that is not the case. The discretionary rent supplement is also gone because there is a central rent office. We should restore that aspect to the local community welfare officer, who can have discretion about whether accommodation within the caps can be found.

I am sure other members have points to raise, but I will speak again later if there is time. I would appreciate the Department's comments on the issues I have raised.