Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I welcome the fact that changes are to be made in the legislation to enable people to purchase houses in voluntary schemes. That is important. I do not know whether the Minister read the Focus Ireland submission on housing last week. The main problem with the rent supplement scheme is that the capping levels do not reflect the market value, particularly in certain areas. We all know of many cases in which people are topping up payments to their landlords to give a total rent in excess of the rent supplement. People are either asking their landlords to sign the form on that basis or losing accommodation because they cannot get their landlords to sign on that basis. This needs to be adjusted. I appreciate the Minister does not want to drive up the price of rent, but an adjustment is required. I ask the Minister to ensure this is dealt with in the review because it is causing people difficulties. If one cannot pay a month in advance, the landlord will go to somebody else who can give that payment straight up. That is the second matter that must be urgently adjusted. I will not go into the quality issues because I will not be allowed.

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