Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I would be appalled if 33,000 people were transferred under the rental accommodation scheme. They need to have their own houses and should not be subject to these short-term arrangements. Having said that, the scheme has some merits.

In the case of the 56 people who have benefited from the scheme and the further 200 who are to benefit therefrom by the end of the year, is only one landlord involved in the areas where the scheme is piloted? I have been told that, in the case of the Iveagh Trust, in co-operation with Dublin City Council, 50 persons were accommodated by one landlord. It is significantly different to negotiate with one landlord as opposed to many landlords.

A great deal of negotiation takes place between local authority personnel, landlords and tenants but no additional assistance has been given to local authorities. The Health Service Executive will be relieved of this task and local authorities will assume it. Will the Minister provide assistance by way of personnel to carry out this work? It is unrealistic to expect this scheme to be implemented if the staff are not available to do it. We will see local authority staff chasing around housing estates trying to find landlords with whom they can negotiate. That is hugely time consuming. The local authorities are also concerned about a range of legal issues. The modus operandi of this scheme will indicate whether it will be successful. Can the Minister say if the negotiations were with individual landlords or a group of landlords?

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