Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Okay, but that must be seriously examined. With regard to land aggregation, the Minister is concentrating too much on rented accommodation. Long-term rental will not solve the problem in this country. Renting over the long term will only cost the State money. Consider all of the land the local authorities have. In each budget they are paying pay back a certain amount to the banks because they bought the lands in the boom, as I said last week. It was addressed then but it is part of this week's discussion. Now, in fact, many local authorities are paying double the amount to the banks. It is costing the country a fortune. The Minister spoke again about the HAP scheme. It was also mentioned last week, Chairman, so there is a little confusion on your part. The HAP scheme is fine but, as the Minister will have heard on the radio during the week, rents are increasing all over the country. We have the new HAP scheme, which I believe will work if it is done right, but there is no cap on rents. As a result, the local authorities are putting people in the HAP scheme but the rents are increasing. That means people are caught again because they must pay extra money on the rent, so they are not gaining. That is why they are finding it hard to find a place to live. Unless the Minister considers putting a cap on rents, the HAP scheme will be defeated.

I have a question about the elderly. Part 2 refers to initiatives for the elderly. We have really failed in this regard. Each local authority provides housing aid for the elderly. Originally, one had to be 62 years of age to get it and then that increased to 63 years. Now, one must be aged 66. One must be 66 years of age if one is applying for any type of grant from local authorities. That is not good enough. People are living longer, which is fair enough, but they do not qualify for the grants. Like many local authorities, I am dealing with people aged 62 and 63 who require grants for their windows and doors, but they cannot get them because they are not the right age.

With regard to local authorities, the Minister gave a commitment to the committee that he would work with them on housing repairs. What repairs do local authorities carry out for local authority tenants? There is no longer such a local authority scheme. The authority will fix a roof if it is leaking, but it must be an emergency, and it will carry out electrical work, because it is afraid the house will go on fire.