Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to follow up on the comments of Deputy Boyd Barrett. I am unsure from where the Minister is getting her information. I can submit several concrete examples from my city in which the rent allowance cap has led to homelessness. I can provide actual instances. Despite the information the Minister received from her Department to the effect that it is not causing homelessness, manifestly it is doing so.

Is the Minister aware of a widespread practice whereby the landlord and tenant collude to leave the rent at a certain level to qualify for rent allowance, while the tenant pays a top-up sum under the counter to the landlord? Strictly speaking it is illegal, but it is taking place and it is causing great hardship. It is the only way around the cap. Is the Minister aware of it?

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