Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Any decent human being would be disgusted by what he or she saw on "RTÉ Investigates" last week. I do not think anybody with a shred of respect for human dignity could stand over the conditions we saw on television. It was like something out of a Dickensian drama. As disgusted as we were, can we really and truly say that we were shocked?

As public representatives, we deal every day with people who are living in unacceptable housing conditions. While Dublin might be the focus of media attention in term of housing, Cork too has serious problems of which anyone who would care to listen should be well aware. Last year, 90% of the rental accommodation inspected in Cork county failed to meet basic standards. Only one of the 179 housing assistance payment, HAP, properties inspected met the required standards, which is less than 1%. A year later, 97% of properties inspected failed to meet basic standards. There were similar findings in Dublin when inspections were carried out.

In my area, houses were thrown up during what I call the dizzy days of the Celtic tiger. They now have serious structural issues. They are damp, cold and falling apart. One woman told me she was at breaking point. She pays €750 a month for an apartment for herself and her child in rural Cork. She had no choice but to live with the black mould which grew on her walls, in her carpet and around the windows. The landlords did not give a damn and were fully aware that they would face no consequences. The tenant had no option. There were rotten carpets and no proper heating.

This is what people have to live with every day and for which they pay extortionate rents. The parasitic behaviour of unscrupulous landlords has to be challenged and stopped. Quite frankly, they need to be punished. I commend the motion to the House. We need real inspections with power behind them. If we stay silent while slums develop in our towns and cities, we are complicit. I refuse to do that.

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