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

The Minister has established a protocol with community welfare officers in the Dublin region. While I fully appreciate this, I remind the House that there is a country outside Dublin and that we have similar problems in Limerick and every other urban area. Will the Minister give us a commitment that she will consider establishing a similar protocol in other areas such as Limerick where there are pressing problems? Perhaps she is correct that the solution is not simply to increase the flow of State money to landlords. The figures I have suggest the top 20 earning landlords last year received €5 million from the State in sums ranging from €180,000 to €578,000 to an individual at the top of the scale. That is one side of the story, but, on the other hand, the difficulty is that 76,000 people are in receipt of rent allowance and that 90,000 are waiting for social housing. My experience in Limerick of rent supplement is that the caps are no longer realistic relative to the rents being charged. Up to now, there was a nod and a wink scenario whereby a tenant would pay the landlord under the counter, but even that arrangement which is illegal can no longer apply because rent supplement recipients cannot afford the increased rents. The Minister has said she has no evidence of this practice, but I have plenty of it. We are facing an imminent problem. I am dealing with people who will become homeless in the next few weeks. What can they do?

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