Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----the glass-half-full view of what is happening in Dún Laoghaire. I came here to make the opposite point. I will not, like some other members, go straight into issues that are properly the territory of a different committee. Suffice it to say that we are in a bad situation in Dún Laoghaire. I say to the committee "Watch this space" as regards Dún Laoghaire. We in Dún Laoghaire were ahead of the curve in identifying the looming crisis back in 2011. There is a very simple reason for that: property and rental prices in Dún Laoghaire have always been higher. That might be beneficial to property owners, property developers or asset speculators, but it is very bad news for people on low incomes who do not get higher social welfare, higher rent allowance or higher wages because they happen to live in an area where rents are higher. I genuinely mean it that this and all committees dealing with housing should watch Dún Laoghaire because it is - as it was in 2011 - a beacon for what is coming down the line for everywhere else. When I raised in the Dáil in 2011 and 2012 the fact there was going to be a housing crisis, I was laughed at because at that point rents and housing prices were falling nationally. It seemed to and was considered preposterous by the Government that there could be a problem. In Dún Laoghaire, however, there was a problem even then.

If we want to understand the problems we face on this, consider at Dún Laoghaire. Last week, I was informed that the average rent for a one-bedroom property in Dún Laoghaire is €1,800. Look at the new limits: the new, increased limit for a single person is €660. For a couple, it is €900. For a one-parent family with one qualified child it is €1,200; with two qualified children it is €1,275; with three such children it is €1,300. I went on daft.ie, as I do on a regular basis to help constituents coming in, and allow me to inform the committee on what is the situation in the entire area comprising south Dublin and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. The number of available one-bedroom properties for less than €700 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is zero and there is one available for less than €900. The number of available two bedroom properties for less than €1,150 is zero. The number of available three-bedroom properties for under €1,300 is zero. If someone on social welfare or working on a low income, which is another question for the committee, finds himself or herself looking for rented accommodation, he or she has zero chance - even with the new limits - of being successful. I do not know whether the committee has heard the expression "ethnic cleansing" but I can inform colleagues that we are having social cleansing in Dún Laoghaire. Working-class and poor people are being cleansed from Dún Laoghaire by an insane, out-of-control property market and, quite frankly, by the greed of private landlords or the banks standing behind them.

Given that this is the objective reality - these are the facts of the situation - I want to know what the community welfare officers and the Department of Social Protection will do when people walk in and say they are sorry but the only available one-bedroom property they can find, if the average is €800, is somewhere for €1,200 or €1,300 - and that is if they are lucky. That is for one bedroom. If people are to have even a prayer of finding two or three-bedroom accommodation, they will be obliged to pay between €1,500 to €1,700 at an absolute minimum.

Even if they find it, the chances of the landlord taking rent allowance is limited. These limits just will not cut it for us. I want to know what flexibility exists and whether there is any acknowledgement within the Department - and in discussions with the Minister - of the position that obtains in places such as south Dublin. Other people should make pleas for other areas. I suspect that people who live in parts of Bray, Wicklow or places such as Howth in north Dublin, who happen to be working class and who have low incomes or who are on social welfare are in deep trouble. What is the policy for these people? I know the Department does not decide this but I want to know the position. When people such as this come in, are they just informed as to what is the limit and that, perhaps, they can be given flexibility by €100 or €200? The policy has to be that the Department will work with them to find accommodation. That should be the policy. An official from the Department of Social Protection should sit down with the person, go on daft.iewith him or her and see what is available so it is objectively assessed. Will the money made available by the community welfare officer go anywhere near helping to get that person housed? In my opinion, our responsibility, the Department's responsibility and that of the various Departments dealing with this is to get people housed. These are the issues about which I want to know.