Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I am repeating some questions but during Covid, planners were working from home and local authorities were told to keep as few people as possible in buildings. That was part of what Covid was but it had a huge knock-on effect on pre-planning meetings and people going in to local authorities to get information. That is a huge issue, even for development plans. In Carlow, our development plan will be extended to the middle of next year or longer. There are major issues with communication but also with going in for pre-planning or to talk about a development plan. These are life-changing issues. Local authorities are dealing with people's livelihoods, whether through businesses or housing or so on. It is so important that we get this right and I have a huge fear about going online. Many people I know, particularly elderly people, do not want to do online meetings. We should not be encouraging that.

It important to sit in front of a planner or someone in a local authority to get information, whether about a development plan or a house someone is building. We need to look at that and we should not encourage online meetings. I am not a firm believer in those.

I want to talk about the issue of landlords and tenants. Like previous speakers, I work very closely with MABS. We have an excellent MABS branch in Carlow, as well as the RTB, to which the witnesses say they give funding. There, again, is another issue. Many of the staff, in fairness, are working from home due to Covid and they are doing their best. They are excellent. I could not fault any of the staff. Is there an issue with information coming from the Department and letting tenants know their rights? I think there is. I am concerned that there have only been seven referrals to MABS. That is a worry and a concern in the sense that we need to make sure tenants know their entitlements. As regards the five days' notice, it is coming up to Christmas and local authorities, MABS and the RTB will be closed. I always find, as I am sure others do too, that when something happens it always happens around Christmas and it is so hard to contact someone about it. We need to be very aware of giving timescales and a date for people. The Department needs to look at that.

Is there a ban on evictions for local authorities? This issue came to my attention recently. I am sure there is when we are in a situation with Covid-19 but it is something with which I was dealing and it is important that local authority tenants know that too. It has not been communicated. It is so important that there is information and awareness and we work through MABS, the RTB and our local authorities, which are all under pressure with Covid-19 and trying to do their best. We need to make sure we get this right because it is so important. There is such a short timescale for this and it would make a huge difference. I have repeated some of the questions but I just wanted to thank the witnesses.