Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

There is no reason anybody should be homeless as a result of this. Landlords throughout the country are reducing rent where the tenant seeks a renegotiation because people have taken a drop in their income. I have yet to meet anybody whose rent has not been reduced because of a change in their personal circumstances. Landlords are the first to know that the market is such that they cannot command the type of rent levels they were getting.

The letter each tenant will get from the Department will be the official way of him or her telling the landlord he or she is not getting as much as he or she was. It will more than just the advertising by the Department in newspapers. That information will come from both sides.

The increase demanded of each tenant, bringing the weekly contribution a tenant must make to €24, is still less than one would pay on RAS or if offered social housing. We have evidence that people turned down the opportunity to move off rent supplement because they were in a better location or in better accommodation on rent supplement and paying less. It was a disincentive. That is the reason we felt it was reasonable, although difficult, to increase it.

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