Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing my time with Deputy Finian McGrath.

Everybody generally agrees that the synchronisation of the differential rents is good. It gives more scope to the local authorities to determine how to assess their rents. There are differences from area to area. I have examined some of the figures. The Dublin City Council figure is 15% and that for South Dublin County Council is 10%, which demonstrates a big difference. The figure for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is 16%. Is the Minister considering capping in regard to household incomes of a certain amount? If one is living in Dublin city, one has the same outgoings as one would have in the jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council. The manner in which this is dealt with should be considered in some way.

With regard to the payment of rent and how it is linked with the maintenance of local authority property, there have been mad circumstances in recent years in respect of people whose incomes required reassessment, probably through no fault of their own, and who have had to bring in their P45 and payslip every year to agree on repayments on arrears. Owing to their arrears, they cannot have essential maintenance work done on their homes.

It is being used as a blunt instrument by some local authorities, particularly Dublin City Council which is refusing to carry out maintenance on the homes of persons in arrears, which is madness. Where a person goes into arrears but is a regular payer, this should be taken into account by local authorities in the context of house maintenance. It is the responsibility of the local authorities to ensure good maintenance of properties into the future.

I have raised the issue of mould in local authority houses with the Minister of State on a number of occasions. Mould and dampness constitute a huge issue in the flat complexes in Dublin city, given the length of the council tenancy. I welcome the progressive move made by the local authorities in terms of inspections of private rented properties, many of which were deemed almost inhabitable. If similar inspections were undertaken of local authority housing, the outcome in terms of its condition would be the same. A number of local authority houses in Dublin south central are manky because of dampness. People who regularly have to clear out their wardrobes and throw out clothes, including bed linen, because of dampness are being told to open their windows and have more vents installed as that will solve the problem. However, despite their doing so, the problem has not been solved. There is a fundamental problem with some of these houses. The Minister of State has stated eligibility for funding provided for local authorities for retrofitting and insulation work will be extended to cover general local authority maintenance. However, this has not yet happened. I have had discussions with Dublin City Council which is reluctant to do this. The situation is crazy. Tenants are stressed out having to clean down every wall in their homes every six to ten weeks. Despite their buying products to help address to the problem, it recurs continually. The issue requires serious consideration by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government which should also be seeking money from the European Union to ensure local authority housing across the country is brought up to standard.

Those most in need of local authority housing are people on low incomes or in receipt of social welfare benefits. They can ill-afford increased ESB and heating bills. The point was made by an organisation that the increase in carbon tax would result in a further decrease of two weeks in the payment of fuel allowance for elderly people. From this point of view, there is a serious problem in terms of fuel poverty. It is important that the Government give consideration to this matter.

Mention was made by other speakers of councils selling properties to their tenants. This is madness. Much of local authority housing stock was sold off a number of years ago and we need to be more creative in terms of local authority tenancies and permanency in this regard, as the housing stock is depleted. There are now more than 100,000 people on housing lists and this figure will increase because people can no longer access mortgages and as more people become unemployed.

The provision of loans by local authorities was mentioned. However, if this were to happen, land and house prices would need to be capped to ensure they would not continually rise, as happened in recent years. I do not believe it would be a good idea for local authorities to give out loans of €300,000. This is reflected in the shared ownership scheme which was introduced to assist people on low incomes to get on the housing ladder. However, it was a complicated structure. Those who purchased homes under the scheme are now caught in a nightmare. Many have lost their jobs or their incomes have been cut.

If Bus Éireann gets its way, the income of its workers will be cut again. Based on the Tánaiste's response on the issue this morning, it is clear that the Government supports Bus Éireann in this regard. Many of its employees who purchased homes under the shared ownership scheme because they could not afford to take the mortgage route will be faced with serious mortgage difficulties if the cuts are implemented. This is a huge problem. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government must intervene and address this problem on behalf of the people concerned who have no access to the insolvency process.

On the RAS, I have always believed it has only served to line the pockets of developers and landlords. While their properties are required to be of a particular standard, which is good, this is easy money for them. The only good thing about the RAS is that a person does not have to remain unemployed while living in a home under the scheme, which helps to remove people from the poverty trap. However, there is a need for review of the rent supplement scheme and allowances to which a person living in a RAS home loses entitlement should he or she gain employment.

There is a need for serious investment in house building. I do not believe local authorities should be selling off homes but should instead be holding on to their assets. There is need for a review of the overall housing strategy, given the crisis in this regard. I received a telephone call this morning from a woman who told me she called her house "heartbreak hotel" because four or five of her adult children had returned to live at home, owing to marriage break-up and so on, because they were unable to access local authority housing. This requires a more detailed approach than bland statements.

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