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

I will reiterate what I said in my first contribution on this issue. The HAP is a temporary measure. It is a temporary housing support mechanism. It is a Dublin City Council tenancy with a private landlord who owns the house. It is not social housing because it is not controlled by a local authority or a voluntary housing agency. We are here because there has not been sufficient investment in social housing. The response to the crisis which has been building up in the past five or so years has not been quick enough. There has been a failure to act, to control the market, to ensure adequate supply, or at least some supply that would address the problems. This Bill does not, in any shape or form, address the problems that emerged during the experiment with RAS in this city. In fact, the legislation compounds those problems.

I accept the Minister of State's assurance that she will deal in regulations with the whole question of allowing people to get onto the transfer list. Is she giving a commitment that every rental scheme, or every scheme of lettings in every local authority, will address the fact that regardless of whether one is in local authority housing or in the rental accommodation scheme, one must have already passed two years' tenancy before one is allowed to get onto the transfer list? That is the current situation in Dublin City Council. I think it is reflected elsewhere. If the Minister is guaranteeing that people who have been housed with a housing assistance payment will continue on the housing list in their current situation, her approach differs from what is contained in the Bill. In such circumstances, rather than promising that this will be done by means of regulation, it would have been better for her to ensure it is contained in the legislation itself.

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