Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to support Deputy Thomas P. Broughan's proposal which makes good sense for local authorities and the country's many voluntary housing associations. In County Kildare rent collection for the local authority is conducted by its revenue collectors who were previously rate collectors. While they do a good job and are, in all instances, supportive of the tenants with whom they deal, I am unaware of any particular training they have received in dealing with tenants who are facing extreme financial difficulties and major challenges in paying the variety of bills that come their way. One is often approached by families after they have accrued significant arrears. This is also the case in the voluntary housing sector. I must declare an interest in that I am a director of and involved in quite a number of such bodies in County Kildare.

It would be good to have a national policy on best practice for local authorities and voluntary housing associations, the principal purpose of which would be to strive to prevent a situation from developing in which people would find themselves in significant arrears. When some people arrive at the point where they owe many thousands of euro to local authorities or voluntary housing associations and solicitors' or warning letters from their housing providers threaten them with eviction or legal proceedings, they do not engage for a considerable period. When they do, they will agree to practically anything, but these agreements are often broken because they are unreasonable in the first instance. People who are under pressure and believe they will have to surrender their tenancies will agree to practically anything, often to amounts that are beyond their capacity to pay. Further amendments will address this issue in terms of making deductions at source, but the Minister of State would be doing the nation some service if she and her Department devised a strategy that could be advocated to all local authorities and voluntary housing associations under which the accumulation of arrears could be minimised and a standardised approach to dealing with arrears implemented. The amendment is trying to achieve this and is worthy of support.

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