Mr. David Hall:

There are two parts to this matter. We are trying to fix a problem that arose over the past decade or two due to utterly bad housing policies. There are all of these little insertions coming in but it is a small amount of money and small collective quantum. The sum of €450 million is very significant but for the individual people involved it is quite small.

On rent pressure zones, there is a lunacy and impracticality around them. There is the bureaucratic nonsense encountered by the people who are looking for homes and looking to rent places. A client of ours, Lisa Brady, was on "The Late Late Show". She is a lovely lady. Her landlord is good but she lives in a rent pressure zone in Clondalkin where the limit is €1,000. Local rents now are €1,900 and the limit cannot be increased so Lisa is forced to avail of homeless accommodation. It is crazy to give a landlord relief when there is an opportunity for rents to be synchronised locally. It makes common sense to ensure rents are synchronised locally rather than have Ms Brady go into emergency accommodation, which costs a fortune each night for herself and her three children, or avail of emergency HAP at a rate of €1,950. At that level there is a whole host of dysfunctionality. I do not need to tell the Deputy about the matter. The Deputy and her colleagues are well aware of the issue, and have spoken about it in many other fora outside of here. There is an element of dysfunctionality and the relief is like a sticking plaster being stuck in among a massive haemorrhage.