Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 3, before section 2, to insert the following new section:

2.—The Minister shall, within 3 months of the commencement of this Act, lay before each House of the Oireachtas, a report on the reform of the Rent Supplement Scheme.".

The points about the rent supplement have been made well in the past fortnight. The Minister carried out a review last year and is doing another one. Without needing to reiterate what I said yesterday in this regard, I ask that a report be published as soon as possible following the review, possibly within the three-month timeframe. There are two particular issues in this regard as the Minister is aware, the first of which relates to rent supplement caps. It is particularly difficult to find rental accommodation in some areas such as certain parts of Dublin and other cities where rents have increased substantially. As some tenants are unable to receive rent supplement, they are being forced to behave in an illegal manner. There is a significant number of homeless people on our streets — many homeless people have died in recent years — some of whom were unable to acquire accommodation in the first instance because of difficulties with the manner in which rent supplement was paid in arrears. Landlords tend to choose tenants who are able to pay in advance. I am not calling for an increase, as such. It is obvious that the cap issue necessitates an increase. Payment in arrears is a timeframe issue. It does not need to involve a charge on the Exchequer. I ask the Minister to give some attention to these two issues.

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