Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will outline my difficulty. While I do not doubt that the system is meant to kick in, I do not believe it does. I know from my own experience in Cork city where I was a member of the council for 11 years and from people who come to my constituency office that some of the most squalid properties are HAP tenancies. There are health and safety issues, yet a fortune is being paid to private landlords. In most cases, inspections do not take place and, when they do and the properties fail, the tenants are just left there. Perhaps other members of the committee might have heard about cases and, if so, they can correct me, but I have yet to hear of one case where a HAP tenancy failed an inspection and the tenant was transferred out of it as a matter of priority. I just do not believe that happens.