Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in, for their briefing documents and for the work both organisations do in the housing sector. Threshold has been excellent in advocating for renters. One of the things that comes out in both presentations is the wider issue of insecurity in the private rented sector. This is not an issue of the housing assistance payment, HAP, but of the protections in place for renters. People who qualify for social housing are more vulnerable members of society because they are not able to meet their housing need as a result of affordability issues. Being in the private rented sector adds another layer of stress, unaffordability and unpredictability.

I have a number of questions, some of which may have already been asked. Perhaps the witnesses can come back to me on them. What are the organisations' experiences of differential rates throughout the country? Each local authority sets its own differential rents. We have been expecting a national differential rents scheme. How does that affect the operation of HAP throughout the country? Are there any particular hotspots in which there are problems or issues with differential rents and HAP limits?

I am also interested in top-up payments and the impacts they have had on people who have been financially impacted by the Covid pandemic. In the presentations, we saw that people are topping up by up to €760 in Dublin and €350 in Limerick and Cork. I am dealing with somebody who is paying a top-up of approximately €700 a month. He has now run into rental arrears with his landlord. He owes approximately €5,000 and his landlord is threatening him with eviction. He does not want to register with the Residential Tenancies Board as having financial difficulties. He feels his top-up is very large and he is at risk of homelessness. Have situations like this been coming up in the organisations' work? How are they advising such people? Have they been raising this issue? The issue of people falling into arrears because of top-up payments is not being discussed.

As I have said, there are wider issues in the private rental sector. I am glad to see the issue of standards addressed in the presentations. I got a reply to a parliamentary question on the number of inspections by local authorities and it is extremely low and not only this year. With regard to inspectors and follow-ups, how many inspections and follow-ups do the organisations see local authorities doing? Are the people who are falling through the cracks because of the unaffordability of housing in the private rented sector coming to Threshold? These are the people living ten people to a room. What is happening with them at the moment?