Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, said last night that the Government would oppose this Bill which he said was flawed, but he did not tell us where or how it was flawed. He also dismissed Sinn Féin in his usual charming and persuasive way. He said our tabling of the Bill was opportunistic. The fact is that the only thing that is flawed is his attitude to the housing crisis. Our position is straightforward. Sinn Féin believes citizens have a right to a home. The Minister said this would put a legal obligation on the State. He is right. We think the State has a legal obligation to ensure its citizens have a home. It is interesting that the same excuse he used that the Bill would put a legal obligation on the State is used when he defends putting money into the pockets of the elites, paying the top advisers, making sure those who have creamed it receive huge bonuses. He says there is a legal obligation on us to do this. We believe citizens have a right to a home, but the Government does not. It believes in making things up as it goes along. The Minister is competing for the position of the very best Minister in the Government at making things up as he or she goes along. He also has a deep concern about his legacy. He actually told us that. He is also the Minister who persists in saying the 20,000 NAMA units due to built by 2020 should be sold on the private market, rather than used as social housing. NAMA is owned by the State and its citizens, yet these units will be built for the private sector. That is socialism according to comrade Kelly and à laFine Gael.

I want to deal briefly with the issue of rent regulation. In my constituency of Louth 1 ,571 people are in receipt of rent supplement. Rents for three-bedroom homes in County Louth are, on average, around €1,100 a month, while the rent supplement limit for a family with three children has been set at just €600. I ask the Minister of State to square these figures. Recent responses to parliamentary questions I submitted show that just 55 applicants in County Louth have had their rent supplement payments increased, that is in spite of the Tánaiste stating - the Taoiseach does it nearly every week - community welfare officers would be instructed to increase payments where not doing so might lead to homelessness.

The Government recently scrapped any idea of introducing rent certainty, which the Minister had been promising since the Labour Party conference in February. He said at the time: "What we are looking for is a process whereby people can have some certainty as regards rent into the future while housing supply is being dealt with." His Department later briefed the media that his plans would involve landlords not being able to increase rent beyond the rise in the consumer price index. It is now obvious that those Fine Gael Ministers - perhaps the Minister of State was among them, I do not know - referred to as "anonymous cowards" and who warned against the rent certainty proposal have won the argument within the Government. The recently announced rent regulation is too little too late. For many tenants, the Government's plans do not amount to a rent freeze, as has been claimed. There is no rent limit in the case of new tenancies. This is because the Government has done nothing to limit increases, apart from harking back to the existing regulations which have failed utterly.

Increases in housing assistance payment rates in some counties are welcome, but without proper controls on rent levels, this will not be enough. Tax breaks announced for landlords who receive large sums in rent supplement and rental accommodation scheme payments are not a solution because they are always driven by the market and the motivation of profit, and they ensure unscrupulous landlords are able to get whatever cream there is at the top of the milk.

Our Bill, which the Minister of State says is flawed and would lead to unforeseen consequences, seeks to link rents to the rate of inflation and to limit rent increases over a period of time. He should tell us what is wrong with that. That is what hard pressed tenants at risk of homelessness require. We also seek to update the definition of "homelessness" and to put an onus on local authorities to act in support of people facing homelessness. I met young people from Ballyfermot at the rally last night and they have done more to address and tackle the issue of homelessness than the Government. If the House passes this legislation, it will have finally done something constructive to tackle homelessness after years of passing measures that created the crisis in the first place. The Government has said it will not do this. Why would it? The Government has thrown shapes at this in its final months. Shame on the Minister of State. The next time he passes a person in a shop doorway wrapped up in a sleeping bag or covered in cardboard, he should remember that his policy has that person there.

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