If the amendments were carried there would also be a direct saving for the State because there are approximately 80,000 rental allowance contracts. Community welfare officers hand over a sum of money to a landlord on behalf of a tenant for which everyone in the State pays. The amendments create the possibility for that sum to be notionally lodged with a treasury account. If there is a breach of the tenancy agreement, the landlord can avail of the deposit but, most importantly, the State need not outlay the money in the first instance. By a modest reckoning if the amendment were agreed to it would create an immediate saving of approximately €80 million for the State. I realise some €35 billion is involved in NAMA and so on but €80 million remains a significant sum of money by any account. Any legislation that generates such a saving for the Exchequer should not be ridiculed.

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