Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

I thank Mr. Deering for the presentation and I thank him and Ms O'Donoghue for coming before the committee. What is the approach of the Office of the Ombudsman to Dublin City Council and how it treats its tenants with regard to maintenance issues and allocations? Private tenants have access to the RTB but Dublin City Council tenants do not have this access. Is this something on which the Office of the Ombudsman has engaged? It is like a two-tier system for tenants. Dublin City Council's treatment of housing allocation and maintenance issues is shockingly poor. Tenants needs to have some effective way of challenging the conditions they have been allowed live in, which are horrific in many cases.