Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up where Deputy Higgins left off. It is important for people to know that separate to the homeless HAP, there is that discretionary uplift in financial hardship cases. Outside of Dublin, the two are not differentiated. Strictly speaking, it is not permissible to go from HAP to homeless HAP in the one property but that discretion can absolutely be given. That tool is there. If it can be more generous than 30%, then all the better, if it stops somebody becoming homeless.

I have a few follow-on questions. Like others, I welcome the increase in applications by landlords for the tenant in situ scheme but I will put out a couple of notes of caution at this stage, which is not to disagree at all with the comments anybody else has made. Almost 10,000 notices to quit have been issued by landlords since January of last year on the grounds of sale.

Even with the very significant increased publicity around tenant in situin the run-up to the ending of the ban on no-fault evictions, there are still only a few hundred - there are just over 300 in Dublin city and 200 in my local authority etc. The number of landlords selling their properties who are applying is still very low. In my local authority, almost 20% of applications by landlords have been rejected by the council. We are waiting for data to get a sense of why that is. The sooner our committee gets the report the Minister promised he would give us, the better. It will give visibility State-wide of the number of landlords who applied, the number of properties refused and rejected and will provide visibility and various stages of the process. My concern is the length of time applications are taking. I know it is a complicated process and is not straightforward.There is a survey of the property, there are valuation, legal considerations and conveyancing. I hear from some landlords a concern that it takes an exceptionally long time. Apologies to Ms Hayes but she is the only person who can talk directly about the tenant in situ scheme. I know it is only Dublin city and not the State or the other Dublin local authorities. Will she give the committee a sense of processing times? While it is very positive that there are 387 applications in the system, that does not mean 387 applications will eventually be closed. I hope they all are and will prevent those families from becoming homeless. Will she provide some additional information on processing times?

The next question I wish to ask is about overholding. There does not seem to be any indication in the latest Residential Tenancies Board, RTB data - although it is too early - around overholding. The number of notices of termination for breach of contract has remained broadly in line with the previous two quarters. From Threshold's point of view, what is it hearing on the ground about overholding, particularly in the most recent period of time? Will Ms Hayes or her team share their views on that? I would be interested to hear them. I have some other questions but to give the presenters more time we can deal with those first.