Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I support these amendments. It is frustrating that Deputy Shortall has had to put them in each year and discuss them again. The Minister said on Committee Stage that he would not be happy if there was no consultation on these matters. He intends to pick and chose what issues allow for consultation. The groups looking for this and the people suffering for this should not be responsible for the fact that he is new in his position. All of the different groups involved - Threshold, the Simon Community, Focus Ireland and so on - have sent every TD submissions on these issues prior to the past three budgets, so I do not think there is any Member of the House who is not on notice about the strong desire of these groups representing vulnerable people for change in this area.

When the Minister's predecessor made many changes to rent supplement, she said it was the ideal time because there was much choice for tenants and they could shop around and move from one place to another. At the same time, she always claimed she did not want to make changes because they might penalise the tenant. This situation really penalises the tenant. The choice for tenants is greatly reduced. Where a tenant is coming up against another member of the public looking to rent a property and that other person can come up with the month's rent in advance and has no need for rent supplement, then automatically the rent supplement tenant is gone. Such a tenant cannot compete. The change in amendment No. 7 is important in this respect.

The Department has great technology for some things, but I am always struck by sensible suggestions like amendment No. 8 that will save the State money. We do not seem to have the technology to provide this information. It is really hard to understand, when a PPSN has been used for many years in all transactions with the Revenue, with land transactions and so on, that it is not mandatory here. I cannot understand what the Minister's predecessor meant when she said she did not want the tenant penalised. This is not about penalising the tenant. This is about ensuring the landlord is tax compliant and that we are getting as much revenue in for our money as taxpayers as we possibly can. There is a loophole for landlords that we could easily shut down and amendment No. 8 would do that.

I originally had concerns on Committee Stage about amendment No. 9 because of the importance of people being able to budget for themselves and manage their own affairs. I am amazed at the number of people in receipt of rent supplement who call to see me seeking local authority housing and when I ask them what their rent is, they tell me that officially it is, say, €650 per month but that they actually pay €800 per month. This practice is widespread. Rents may be slightly reduced in the current economic climate but top up payments on rent supplement are paid and that practice needs to end. This legislation presents the best opportunity and is probably the best way to end it. Landlords who charge such top up payments only declare the proportion of the rental payments that are legal and not the top up payments that are illegal. We need to examine this practice.

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