Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I would be slow to describe this scheme as successful. Is it successful because all other Government housing policy has failed? There should never be this many people seeking rent supplement if alternatives were available. The Minister reiterated my point about market value. The Focus Ireland submission deals with that quite well by discussing its being a percentage of the market value and not the full market value, so its position paper had an opportunity to ensure rents did not increase in an area. As a review is ongoing, will this be taken into account? Last year we discussed the same points with the then Minister, Deputy Cullen, and it went ahead as it always does every year, in fact more negatively because of the increase for the tenant. It is one thing to pay for a local authority house when one knows one can stay in it for the rest of one's life. It is another matter to pay that rate for temporary accommodation that is often of very poor quality.

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