Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

Anti-social behaviour causes grave concern in certain cases. Many neighbours feel helpless in this regard and this amendment would certainly strengthen the possibility of achieving something concrete to deal with anti-social behaviour.

The situation can arise in local authority or other housing estates where neighbours are forced to move out because of anti-social behaviour rather the problems that affect neighbours being tackled. These matters can start very simply, among siblings of neighbours, with corrections or disputes in playgrounds. They build up to become a major problem for households when instead there should be a system of tackling them from the beginning by liaison officers, housing support agencies or agencies such as those mentioned in the amendment. These would be in a position to nip the behaviour in the bud before it develops into a major confrontation which destroys the lives, not only of those who engage in such behaviour, but also of their neighbours. Anti-social behaviour has a complete and absolute effect on the community and gives it a bad name. People say then that they would not take a house in estate X, Y or Z because there was anti-social behaviour going on and they would not like to live there. Others seek transfers out of such areas because of the anti-social behaviour.

The issue extends further. I do not know whether anything can be done about this but I raised the matter on Committee Stage. Is there any recourse for the local authority where anti-social behaviour can be proved beyond doubt and when the authority has investigated it? Eventually a tenant can be evicted for anti-social behaviour but by the time that stage is reached so much harm has been done that the problem is not resolved. Another person is made homeless and there will be repercussions against the person who reported the behaviour. If those situations could be tackled from the beginning it would be to the benefit of everybody in the estate as well as for neighbours.

There are also cases of anti-social behaviour among people on rent supplements in private estates. They receive taxpayers' money to pay their rent and if they engage in anti-social behaviour, the HSE, which supplies them with the rent supplement, has no recourse of any kind. It cannot evict anybody. I might ring up the HSE and report that in such and such a house the tenant on rent supplement is reported to be responsible for anti-social behaviour. I might ask for the situation to be investigated but I will be told the HSE can do nothing about it. It claims it neither evicts anybody nor stops the rent supplement, that it is not the business of the HSE but a matter for the Garda Síochána. Once the Garda Síochána is brought in, the job will be finished in any case because there will be no chance of reconciliation between neighbours if that happens.

However, let us consider a system whereby the health authority is able to investigate the anti-social behaviour and, if the matter is proved, can stop rent supplement for a fortnight or three weeks. The landlord would not be long coming then to sort out the anti-social behaviour if his rent were to be stopped for that period. At present, the landlord does not give a damn. He or she may live in another part of the country, or Europe, or the world and has no notion whatsoever of sorting out the anti-social behaviour as long as the rent arrives every week and the HSE continues to pay the rent supplement.

Perhaps the Minister of State cannot do anything about that in this Bill but it must be looked into at some stage. That type of anti-social behaviour must be tackled in situations where taxpayers' money is involved in paying the majority of the rent for the house in question.

I appeal to the Minister of State. This amendment may help to sort out anti-social behaviour at the beginning, which is the important time to tackle such behaviour. Amendment No. 62 and the subsequent amendments we are considering cry out for action to sort the matter out, to liaise with tenants and neighbours who start out by having small differences, such as "My Johnny hit your Rosie coming home from school" type of incident. Next, the parents are involved and then it becomes an unstoppable avalanche, a rolling snowball that cannot be stopped. Simple intervention at the beginning would eliminate much anti-social behaviour and the causes or perceived causes of injustices practised by one neighbour on another.

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