Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 6, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following:

3.—The Principal Act is amended in section 198 by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3D)—

"(3E) The landlord in receipt of a payment of a supplement towards the amount of rent payable of a tenant shall, as soon as practicable, submit to the Health Service Executive the registration details of the tenancy where registration is required by section 134 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004.".

I have tabled a number of amendments which deal with the issue of rent supplement. We discussed rent supplement in some detail on Committee Stage. It is an area in need of urgent reform. The Committee of Public Accounts is pursuing the matter separately in respect of the tax implications of how the supplement is paid at the moment. I have listed a number of aspects of rent supplement that need urgent attention. I ask the Minister to give consideration to addressing those anomalies at this point rather than putting them off further. It is a very expensive scheme, costing approximately €420 million a year. If that amount of taxpayers' money is being transferred into the hands of private landlords, there is an onus on the Department of Social and Family Affairs to ensure that when the money is received proper tax is paid on it. The system works from the point of view of the taxpayer and from that of the recipient of the rent supplement.

The amendment proposes that it be a requirement for the payment of rent supplement that a landlord be registered with the PRTB. That is a very basic requirement that should be in place. The PRTB legislation required landlords to be registered. There is a considerable problem in that many landlords appear to be not yet registered even though the PRTB has been in place for a number of years. The amendment proposes to close the loophole so that the Department of Social and Family Affairs in transferring substantial public money to landlords would have as a minimum requirement that landlords be registered with the PRTB.

I am sure the Minister will say that his Department relays that information about landlords and the rent supplements paid to the PRTB. That is much more difficult to see through. My amendment proposes a seamless system requiring a landlord to be registered before the rent supplement is paid. I cannot see any argument against it. They are already required in law to be registered. This is just a double check on that if they expect to receive rent supplement. I urge the Minister to accept the amendment.

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