Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. When I originally got into politics, I was not a big fan of AHBs. I believed they were doing the work local authorities should be doing. I just could not get my head around it. However, they do some fabulous work and I cannot understand why local authorities are unable to deliver what AHBs can. That might be down to funding or a number of other issues. I compliment the AHBs. I deal with a lady named Jennifer Ring at the Tuath Housing Association. To be able to pick up a phone, talk to people and sort out issues is a great model.

Something else I must compliment the AHBs on is the role of tenant officers, who check the properties every year. Cork North-Central is my constituency. Cork City Council has 11,000 properties, none of which has been checked since I became a councillor in 2009. It is not a negative that AHBs check every year. For most people and communities, it is a positive. It catches people who dump out the back, build illegal extensions or carry out works on the house they should not be doing. AHBs do great work in this regard and I compliment their staff.

Ms McLoughlin spoke about cost-rental housing, where rents are below market value, but I have a concern. I spoke to a single lady last week – I raised her case in the Dáil – who was earning €42,000 per year, but a single person earning more than €40,000 per year cannot get on the social housing list in Cork. She does not believe that cost rental is an option for her because the rents in Cork are between €900 and €1,100 per month. While that seems reasonable compared with normal rents of approximately €1,500 and €1,700 per month, she cannot afford it.

Ms McLoughlin stated that the Irish Council for Social Housing wanted to see how the legislation affects the lottery system, allocations and rents. Have the witnesses anything to say about rents being truly affordable rather than just reduced market rents?