Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If local authorities were given responsibility for sourcing properties, we would really see the scale of the emergency we face. There is absolutely no doubt that many people are topping up their payments and have been doing so for some time. Increasing rent supplement without putting rent controls in place will not change that. There is still going to be a creeping effect in respect of rents. As a result, we need some form of rent control. Local authorities must be encouraged to take on a bigger role in sourcing accommodation. There is no point in their merely advising people to go here or there in search of it. If local authorities were given this responsibility, the truth about what has been happening would emerge and it would become apparent that this emergency is of a scale never before seen. The scale of what has been taking place is the very reason people are struggling to obtain rent supplement and why landlords are saying - and this type of behaviour should be outlawed - that they will not accept it. Will they now state that they will not accept the HAP? Landlords must be informed that they cannot discriminate against residents who are in receipt of rent supplement or HAP. Up to now they have been refusing to accept rent supplement.

I am of the view that we are heading into troubled waters. People have been trying to source accommodation for themselves and they have become frustrated. I know no one wants to say it but there are those who have killed themselves as a result of the pressure they have been under.

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