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

None of were asked so I will let that go. We have all 31 chief executives - I would always call them county managers - there. Can we not all work together on a plan? I have only learned all of this since I have come to these meetings. Dublin is able to say that its policies are different and Waterford's policies are different. If policies are not similar, the only ones who lose out are the tenants and the people in private rented accommodation. What was the outcome of the letter that was sent to all the local authorities? What different issue faces every local authority? Can we have a breakdown of the €34.5 million and €1.7 million provided to the local authorities in 2017?

I am concerned about the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. It is an issue since people are taken off the housing lists and it is deemed that they have a house, yet repairs need to be done. This goes back to every local authority. Activity in respect of my local authority's repair system, whether for dampness or another issue, is very low. Other local authorities do much more work than some. That is not acceptable. The witnesses should get together and have a scheme for all local authorities, whether to fix dampness, a cooker, a fireplace, windows or doors. These are all issues for which local authorities state they do not have funding. Some local authorities are doing it and others are not. That is unfair because in the end, everybody pays the rent. It is the same throughout the country. The cap is €150 to €180. The highest earner pays, whatever the number in the house. The proper money is paid across the country, through the local authorities. We need to look at that. Could the witnesses get a system together and work on joined up thinking?

We spoke about the NCT. It is probably a matter of wording. There needs to be a proper NCT for private rentals. I come across cases relating to private rental not working. Rent pressure zones were introduced recently and I asked the Minister many times how can he expect a rent pressure zone to work when he will not bring it in to every local authority, that is, when neighbouring local authorities have it while others do not? Every local authority should have this. We have none in Carlow. Wicklow, our neighbouring county, has it. That does not make sense and it is unfair on the local authorities that do not qualify for it. I do not understand, when we are in a housing crisis and are told that we need to do things urgently, why the Minister will not bring it in across the 31 local authorities. He says we have to go back to look at phase 2. Some local authorities did not qualify under phase 1, so he has to look at phase 2. He cannot guarantee if the other local authorities will qualify.

That is unacceptable. I am not blaming the witnesses but there must be a joined-up approach and every local authority must get its fair share of funding. I acknowledge they cannot compete with the cities such as Dublin and Waterford but the smaller local authorities need to be looked after. That is where we are failing. I firmly believe that the biggest issue we have is the lack of supply. The rent pressure zones are not working. We need accountability in housing. We have good landlords - there is no point in saying otherwise - and we cannot categorise every landlord as not being good, but we need a balance. I have been to several houses on which landlords need to do work and they are just not doing it. I get on to the council and the council says that is not its remit. We need to look at enforcement and legislation. The biggest issue is staffing. It is a massive issue. I could talk all day about housing and local authorities, but perhaps the witnesses could come back to me on the points I have raised. Figures are important to me in order that I can justify where this money is after going, what it is spent on, where it was spent and what difference it made to people's lives.