Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the first time I have spoken on this Bill but I have followed the debate as much as possible on this and Committee Stage, as I have much interest in the issue. My area has a high level of social housing and people dependent on rent supplement. Other Deputies have spoken about rent supplement and I also cannot see how this Bill will help the problem, given our current economic climate. The amendment would have the Government examine, after six months of operation, the effectiveness of this new process. It would not tie the Government to an onerous amount of work or contradict the Bill. It would seek to determine if the Bill has the effect that the Minister of State and her officials have spoken about. I do not believe it can do so and the proposed process is not in a format to have such an effect. It is another example of further entrenching the subsidisation of private landlords in this country. Rather than doing this we should try to ensure an increase in supply of social housing and we should undo the lack of investment evident for quite a number of years with social housing in the country. Spending did not keep pace in the good times or even in bad times, and in the past 20 years we have not properly addressed the social housing issue in a way that dealt with increasing housing lists. That has definitely not been evident in the past three years.

I agree with my colleague about rent control, an issue that can and should be considered very quickly so as to address a major problem in this city and, as far as I know, other locations on the island where private landlords are creaming it. The proposed changes will not necessarily attract landlords into a system. This process is modelled on the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and a pilot was implemented in Limerick. Examination of the RAS operation in this city demonstrates that it has been a basket case, with the council now encouraging people to stay in accommodation despite it being sold from under them by a landlord. Not only is the city council in breach of its agreement but it is encouraging the tenant to be compliant in such a position. Tenants are frightened that in the morning either bailiffs or other parties could put them out on the street, despite the fact there is a legal agreement between tenant and the council. The council has not been able to find landlords to take up the RAS in the past few years in this city.

This new proposal for a housing assistance payment, HAP, will go the same road, creating more nightmares along the way. It is a disgrace that anybody in these schemes could be taken off a housing waiting list as these are temporary measures. The HAP is a temporary payment and it is not a solution to a person's housing problem.

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