Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This amendment was also tabled and discussed on Committee Stage, at which time the Minister said she did not want to direct the courts. I do not want matters to get to the point whereby the courts have to be directed. I think action has to happen at a much earlier stage. The lack of ability to manage local authority estates is part of the problem in that it is seen as exclusively a housing issue. The point I and others are trying to make is that it is more than a housing issue. Often the most vulnerable individuals in estates are being terrorised by a small number of minors. I know of people who have been forced out of estates because of anti-social behaviour. It is these families rather than those that are causing the problem who suffer the consequences.

There is a difficulty with minors, particularly when a group of them come together. If there are not consequences for those involved the problem becomes difficult to manage. A particular criticism of the housing associations is that they engage in cherrypicking of tenants, which option is not available to the local authorities as they are required to broadly comply with a points system, even in respect of a family that is known to be a difficult family. What often happens is that an estate that previously was stable becomes intolerable to live in following the allocation in that estate of a house to a particular family. The Minister of State is well aware of this.

Today is a seminal moment in terms of housing policy. While in theory the housing assistance payment provision makes things much easier administratively from the point of view of the landlord and tenant, in the absence of supply housing associations are being turned into housing support agencies and the private sector is where people will in future live. Anti-social behaviour and how it is managed becomes a different issue when that is the case. It may well be that it will become an academic issue because there will not be local authority estates in the future to house the 90,000 plus families on the housing waiting lists.

As I said, the authorities need to get involved in the management of behaviour at a much earlier stage. Eviction of families who are causing problems is simply moving a problem from one place to another. What we really need to do is address the problem at a much earlier stage. There must be a range of consequences for bad behaviour. It is often impossible for families to continue to live beside people who are out of control. There is a need for a multi-agency approach to this issue. That multi-agency approach must include the Child and Family Agency and Garda junior liaison officer.

It may well be that health service training programmes are required. I refer to tenant-management systems. It may well be that courses could be run for tenants in order that they gain an understanding of the problems visited on their neighbours. I would prefer intervention at a much earlier stage, rather than going to the courts.

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