Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this critically important issue. There is no issue I take more seriously or spend more time on. Homelessness and housing services take up the bulk of my time as I try to ensure that people have a home and a decent living standard. It is very personal to me. This Government will do everything it can to help people. We have been caught in the perfect storm of the property crash. The industrial sector is dysfunctional. There have been years of privatisation of social housing and I agree with the Deputy on that. Local authorities also needed to be brought up to speed.

The biggest issue is the growing economy, according to figures today. It has created this pressure. There are also problems in the private rental sector because there is a small percentage of unscrupulous landlords. There are real estate investment trusts, REITs, buying up property and announcing they will have annual returns, which are not sustainable and in some cases are morally unacceptable. We need to ensure that tenants are protected and that their rights are promoted, that they have security and certainty. I am working with my colleagues to ensure that is put in place and that we will have measures in the near future to ensure they are protected.

I compliment the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, Cathal Morgan and all his team. The Deputy will agree they do a fantastic job. I meet and speak to Cathal regularly. He also agrees with me that dealing with the rental sector is paramount and the most important issue facing us, given the issues he deals with day in, day out, in Dublin. Other people working in the sector have made similar comments.

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