Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials of the Department for attending and providing responses. We may not agree with all of the responses but the officials made an effort to come in and talk to us. I ask Ms Faughnan to acknowledge that the problem is not Dublin-based. She continually referred to a problem in Dublin but there is life beyond the Red Cow. The problems were articulated by other members.

Does Ms Faughnan accept that top ups are taking place? Ms Faughnan referred to discretionary payments but that is subject to the approval of the Minister and takes time. Committee members, who are trying to help clients, cannot get information because it is unavailable to us. We cannot tell our clients what is happening.

Ms Faughnan referred to a duty of care to the taxpayer but I put it to her that she has a duty of care to the vulnerable as well. These people are left unemployed, with no money to pay rent. What can we do? We cannot drive them out of the community. Ms Faughnan said that if accommodation beneath the rent cap is not available in that community, there is nothing the Department can do. However, we must keep people in the community as children may be established in schools and parents may be working in the community and involved in groups and organisations. We cannot drive people out of an area they are used to living in. We have a duty of care to those people as well. We cannot put more financial pressure on them by driving them out so that they must buy a car and incur petrol and diesel expenses going to the local town.

Ms Faughnan said she had local information on the ground but the feedback we receive suggests the Department does not have a handle on what is going on. There is no way the cap reflects rents in the area. Every committee member has said that but the Department does not seem to take that on board. When I rudely interrupted Ms Faughnan, as the Chairman pointed out, it was to say the PRTB reflects the rents minus the top-up. The PRTB is not going to tell about the top-up, nor is the tenant in case the accommodation is lost. There is no record of it and the landlords do not have to pay tax on the top-up because it does not exist. I thank the witnesses for attending and I appreciate their comments.