Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I echo the points made by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan. This is a quality of life and welfare rather than a pest issue. In that sense, the role of pest companies is not essential. If we are to deal with the issue properly, feral cats should be included in some form in the legislation. We are talking about a population of approximately 1 million such cats in the country. This obviously puts enormous pressure on rescue centres to take in unwanted kittens or cats. The State funding provided is not adequate to keep up with demand. The majority of these cats remain unneutered and breed rapidly. If we are to deal with this issue properly, we must develop a trapping, neutering and return programme. This is essential if we are to deal with the issue humanely. There should be a national campaign to ensure these cats are brought to vets to undergo a health check, be treated for parasites, neutered, microchipped and returned to the wild, with some form of identification to provide clarity that the procedure has been carried out. This could be done in conjunction with a programme covering domestic cat owners. Otherwise, we will have a situation where hundreds of thousands of feral kittens will be born every year, many of which will die before they are one month old. We should be moving in the direction of neutering. The issue is of huge concern to animal owners and we need to include provisions in the Bill to deal with it, rather than highlight the categories in the section.

Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant; the tenant makes the application for rent supplement and payment is made to the tenant. Rent supplement is specifically for the benefit of tenants to assist them with their accommodation needs. There is no direct relationship between the landlord and the Department in the administration of the scheme. However, Social Welfare legislation provides for the payment of a rent supplement payment to a nominated payee such a landlord on behalf of the tenant. This arrangement is entered at the tenant’s request and subject to the consent of the Department. The department official dealing with the request will take into account all the relevant circumstances of the particular case and the tenant’s preference will be accommodated where possible.

Within the timeframe available, I have not been able to ascertain whether any Court decisions have imposed a civil liability on this Department for loss or damage arising from tenancy contracts as a result of rent supplement issues or whether any associated legal advice has been received. The Department will advise the Deputy further on the matter in due course.

It is open to the landlord to bring to the attention of the Department any instance where they suspect that a tenant is receiving rent supplement and is not paying their rent. Where the Department becomes aware that a person is not using rent supplement to meet the accommodation costs, payment of the supplement is suspended and the matter investigated. Where a landlord has a grievance in relation to the non-payment of rent by a tenant, s/he may apply to the Private Residential Tenancies Board to have the dispute resolved through the Board’s dispute resolution process.

The Department’s circulars regarding rent supplement do not place any legal obligation in relation to decisions on the payment of rent supplement but are designed to provide guidance to departmental staff in the exercise of their powers having regard to the requirements of the legislation.

See this speech in context