Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The reason there are few notifications is that there are very few inspections. The level of inspections needs to be increased if standards in private rented accommodation are to be improved. Will the Minister accept that in many situations where a community welfare officer points out that the standard of the accommodation is inadequate, the alternative is that the person becomes homeless? It may be okay in certain parts of Dublin where a good deal of accommodation is available but in other areas that is not necessarily the case. Will the Minister accept that what is required is a far greater level of co-ordination between her Department, RAS, local authorities and the local authority housing officers? With proper expansion of RAS many of these difficulties could be overcome.

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