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

I agree that the practice in local authorities varies. That needs to be sorted out because it has been a hindrance and certainly has not been fair. I am totally in agreement with the Minister on that.

I am worried that in some ways this may cost a bit more. I mentioned the senior citizens and those who made financial contributions. Many of them made considerable contributions and ended up paying rent on top of that. In some cases in the past, I found tenants passed away within a short period and were still paying rent. Often they also pay, on top of their rent, for a boiler service and other matters.

There has also been a situation where differential rents, which has been used by Dublin City Council, have put the rents up so high. If a tenant's income increases, his or her rent goes as high, in some cases, as €200 or €300 per week. That does not make sense. Some voluntary housing bodies place caps on the maximum rent payable. We should be looking at providing for such a maximum and what that should be. It is ridiculous. I hold a local authority tenancy and I was paying €80 per week. Since I became a TD, I am paying nearly €300 per week. It is wrong. We should be encouraging social housing, not discouraging it.

I note the Minister plans to re-introduce the tenant-purchase scheme. We should also include in it that the proceeds of the scheme should be ringfenced for social housing. In the past, it ended up in a pile and did not go where it should have gone.

I have reservations about this scheme. We need to look much more carefully at some of the band levels the Minister has set and discussed. He is setting them a little lower and that will cause serious problems.

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