Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I listened to the proposal for an NCT-style system. Such a system would make a huge amount of sense. As Dr. Hayden said, a house is one of the most important things in a person's life. It should go without saying that there could be certain standards to comply with. When Dr. Hayden talks about an NCT-style system, it is really the same as a certificate of compliance. In a sense, the witnesses are all talking about the same thing. It is about setting the standard. Is that correct?

We are talking about overcrowding. Sometimes there is an undercapacity or under-occupancy in social housing. My question for Mr. Walsh is about local authorities auditing occupancy in housing. How often is this done? I am aware of situations of families living in a four-bedroom houses where the mother has passed away and a son has taken over. There was full occupancy at one point but now there are two or three bedrooms in a social house that are not being occupied. How often are audits carried out to ensure, particularly in light of the current crisis in housing, the situation is assessed in order to ensure that social housing is sufficiently occupied and that there is not misuse?

In Dublin, rent accounts for almost 49.6% of a single person's income. Outside of Dublin, the figure for last year was 10.9%. In some cases, most of a person's income is going on rent.

I will leave it at that. Most of the questions have been asked.