Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

-----put together an organised protest, people who are affected by the cuts to the rent supplement scheme are also getting organised. I hope the Government will respond in the same way to their campaigning efforts.

The effect of the reduction in rent caps is that people are being threatened with eviction and driven into the homelessness services. The Government claimed it would force landlords to reduce rents, but that is not happening. Instead, landlords are giving tenants notice when the latter indicate that a reduction in rent is being sought in accordance with the reduced rent supplement thresholds. People are being put in terrible situations. In Dún Laoghaire, for example, those who present themselves to the council to declare themselves homeless are being told they will be put in a hotel in Drumcondra or in Rathdrum in County Wicklow. Families are being separated, which is deplorable. In other cases, people are being forced, as Deputy Kevin Humphreys observed, to make under-the-counter payments, with the landlord lying to the authorities about the actual rent being charged. In addition, there are many anomalies in the system whereby foster children, for instance, are not recognised when assessing eligibility for rent supplement. In addition, people who take up part-time work are losing their allowance, which acts as a disincentive to employment.

I call on the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, to reverse the reductions in the rent caps. She should concentrate on doing what should be done, namely, taking some of the tens of thousands of vacant properties throughout the State into local authority control in order to meet people's housing needs. That is far preferable to forcing them into homelessness.

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