Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The specific wording of this provision does not stitch us into current rent caps. The reference to a cap is not to rent caps but to the overall availability of funding for the scheme. One of the officials here with me today is from the Department of Social Protection, which has commenced a rent review which will be completed in time to feed into the budgetary process. That review will be there for us in the context of decisions being made this year.

I will make a brief comment in regard to the cost of hotels and other such accommodation.

A protocol is being worked on by the Dublin authorities and the Department of Social Protection on the provision of flexibility where a family or individual is in danger of losing a home due to rent caps. The protocol will be announced in approximately two weeks. A process is being put in place to address the issue of people being made homeless and having to go into hotels due to rent caps. The information will be in the public arena soon.

On the general issue of the availability of funds, it will be a learning process as this is gradually rolled out. We intend to learn from it. There are amendments proposed on reporting and monitoring. We intend to use this as a learning phase and to monitor carefully what is happening in Limerick and in respect of the subsequent phases with the six other local authorities. We will see what the take-up is and what property is available, etc. We will learn whatever we can. If it turns out that there is a lack of accommodation, it will put more pressure on whoever is in government to provide more social housing. It will point out the growing dependence on the private sector to provide housing over very many years. Deputies all feel very strongly that we should be providing more social housing and I would like to provide more also. It will have to feed into the process as time goes on to see what is cost-effective for the public purse, what the demands and pressures are and how the scheme beds into the system we already have in place.

The specific amendment relates to a general obligation to stay within available resources. It does not say, however, that it must be the rent limits as they currently exist or will exist at the end of the year following the review.