Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I agree with the points made by Deputy Shortall. There is a real attitude that so long as the Department does its bit it does not matter and it is not its problem. It is still taxpayers' money coming from the same Central Fund. I read the report the Department of Social and Family Affairs officials gave to the Committee of Public Accounts last week. The Secretary General admitted, as the Minister has, that the Department does not follow up with the PRTB. She said later on that the Department is trying to work its way through legal issues to ascertain how it can pull the three areas together. Perhaps the Minister might enlighten the House as to what legal issues his Department is working through in this area so that we can understand where the problems are. At first it seemed clear it was not doing anything. Then there seemed to be some degree of openness to doing something. Just notifying the Private Residential Tenancies Board and doing nothing else shows a very casual attitude to taxpayers' money. I understand and accept what the Minister says about not wanting to penalise the Department's customer who needs the rental property. I do not want to see such persons penalised either but those in receipt of money, either directly from the Department or through the tenants paid by it, should pay tax. An all-sided approach should be taken to this matter, rather than saying "We did our bit and do not really care what happens after that," which seems to be the attitude adopted to date.

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