Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I do not have any questions for the witnesses. I would like, however, to thank them for and acknowledge their efforts in terms of the preparation of the report provided today, which reaffirms our beliefs in respect of this sector. While short-term letting might not be the main contributory factor in the homelessness crisis, it is not helping and is making a critical situation worse.

We met Department officials at our earlier sessions. It would appear that very little has been done since the decision by An Bord Pleanála issued. A working group was established but it has only met once. It met for the first time last week and while it has issued circulars to the local authorities urging planning enforcement officers to be vigilant in respect of this sector and how it is policed, there is no direction to them to actively seek to address issues within local authority areas in terms of this activity. Neither this committee nor the Peter McVerry Trust should be the policing authority but it would appear that the practice is that the local authorities will only act on foot of complaints made to them, which is far from what they are supposed to be doing, as far as I am concerned. They are supposed to enforce the law of the land. There is legislation in place in that regard. The matter has been adjudicated by the relevant authority, namely, An Bord Pleanála, and the local authorities need to act accordingly. It would appear, without them admitting so, that they do not have the personnel or manpower to do a trawl and match the effort made in other cities throughout Europe. We have said in no uncertain terms to the Department that it has failed in its responsibilities heretofore. We expect a sea change in this regard as soon as is practicably possible. There is an urgency required in the context of the response to this crisis which has not been forthcoming from the Department. This is example of another matter in respect of which the right procedures and processes are not being adhered to. We will seek to hold the Department and the Minister with responsibility for it to account. The Peter McVerry Trust can be assured of our assistance in ensuring that is the case.