Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I concur very much with what Deputy Donohoe said and it is something I have spoken about directly to the Minister of State in the Chamber. Along the lines of what Deputy Donohoe stated, at a recent meeting with Clare County Council officials I was very pleased to learn the inspection regime is being stepped up there. County Clare is not unlike anywhere else in that quite an amount of private rented accommodation is inadequate in the extreme. I sat as an adjudicator on the Private Rresidential Tenancies Board and while at times I was shocked by the evidence of what tenants had done to properties, I was equally shocked by some of the entirely inadequate properties being let to tenants, in particular under schemes funded by the Exchequer and often paid for by the HSE. I am glad that not only in this august Chamber where it is easy to discuss these matters, but on the ground the inspection regime is being stepped up.

Deputy Maloney mentioned we would very much like to see a greater number of houses being built by local authorities and everybody would agree, whether on the left or right of the Chamber, that this would be socially beneficial. I wish to draw the attention of the Minister of State to the fact that there is insufficient money to renovate and repair existing housing stock in Clare which is lying idle. There is not a lot, it has to be said, but there is some and these are times of pressure on State resources. Clare is rarely exceptional in any instance and has been described as a bellwether constituency and county. I know the Minister of State is very well acquainted with it. It would be good if money could be made available for this housing stock. It would also be good if money could be made available for building, but at the very least perhaps money could be made available for the repair and renovation of existing housing stock to ensure people move into it.

I wish to discuss the great difficulty housing arrears cause local authorities with regard to their budgets and financing. I am aware the Department has sought to address this since the Minister of State has taken up her role, and an amendment to the household budgeting scheme to provide for mandatory deduction of local authority rent was introduced in December. This will help local authorities address their concerns regarding the build-up of rental arrears. The mandatory provision provides local authorities with strengthened power to help manage their tenancies, as when the provision is commenced customers will have to obtain written permission from the housing authority prior to cancelling the household budget rent reduction. The requirement to enter into a household budget rent reduction scheme is nothing new but many local authority tenants entered into it when they entered into their tenancy but then cancelled it and commenced building up arrears. They will no longer be able to do this. The difficulty still arises with existing tenancies, of which there are many with considerable arrears. We all appreciate many people in local authority housing are in considerable difficulty but some people take advantage of the situation.

Of course, that puts further pressure on the local authority and on other people who could be benefiting from local authority housing but are not because others decide to take advantage of the system.

I have received various assurances on this issue from Ministers. I do not expect an update today from the Minister of State on what will be done regarding existing tenancies, but I hope that in the weeks ahead her Department will be able to outline what will be done with regard to such tenancies and arrears. Specifically, will it be legally possible to insert a clause concerning this household budget rent deduction scheme into existing tenancies? If so, under what legislative provisions will it be done? Something like that would be very useful, not just for Clare County Council but for all housing authorities across the State.

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