Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief as much of what I wanted to raise has been raised by other speakers. I want to repeat the issue about making the payment directly to landlords. I reiterate that there is a significant benefit in doing that. It means that someone does not fall into significant arrears. I urge the Department to ensure that continues through whatever process is required to be put in place. It needs to happen.

The rent cap causes significant problems for me in County Roscommon. While Ms Faughnan makes reference to situations where one is adjoining another town, what she said does not happen in reality. We have one rent cap for County Roscommon and it applies equally in Monksland in the south of the county, which is literally the distance of the white line in the middle of the road from the town of Athlone.

On one side of the road, the rent cap is €100 more than on the other side. It is the same rent cap that applies 75 miles away in rural Arigna at the other end of the county. That cannot and will not work. The same situation arises in Roscommon town. The small rural village of Creggs, six or seven miles from the town, has a rent cap higher than in the town of Roscommon because it happens to be in County Galway. People cannot access accommodation locally because of the rent cap. There is a general cap for a full county, not taking into consideration the points articulated by the witnesses in respect of demand for property in a particular area and local needs. Officials in the Department of Social Protection who have come in from the HSE in Roscommon and Athlone have clearly articulated the problem to the Department. There is a knock-on impact in respect of local authority housing. If people are not resident in the county, the local authority knocks them off the list and they must justify getting back on the council housing list because they reside in a local authority area outside the county. This is causing major problems for people because there is no sensible approach to rent caps. I hope these anomalies are resolved because it is causing major hardship for families. If they want to remain in their community, they must pay a top-up whether they like it or not.

There is a persistent problem with a small cohort of people in receipt of rent supplement. They are persistent antisocial behaviour offenders. One estate in County Roscommon hit the local media last week. It has become a no-go area because of a couple of people in receipt of rent supplement. They are moved from one house to another and continue to receive rent supplement. They continue to destroy houses, terrorise the community and move on to another development or another part of the development. A certain amount of control can be exerted when people are in local authority tenancy agreements and the PRTB covers the private rented sector. I refer to the use of rent allowance to ensure we do not have people in receipt of the rent allowance viciously assaulting members of the Garda Síochána trying to keep the peace and calm in a housing estate in rural Ireland. This should not be happening and something must be done urgently. In those circumstances, it should be made crystal clear to people they will lose rent supplement if they continue to persist with aggressive, antisocial behaviour in communities. This is causing major problems for the community but also the policing of it by the Garda Síochána.