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

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. The current average rent for a two-bedroom house in east Cork is €1,000 per month. As Deputy Ó Laoghaire stated, the rent for some properties is above average. The monthly rent for a three-bedroom house in the area is €1,200 while that for a one-bedroom is €750 per month, which is ironic. There are currently 20 properties for rent in east Cork. Obviously, when goods or a service is scarce and demand for it is high, it becomes more expensive. However, the knock-on social effect is that struggling young families are under immense mental and financial pressure to get a sustainable job and meet the demands of paying the rent.

Cobh is the only rent pressure zone in my area of east Cork. Last year, I raised the issue of rent pressure zones with the Minister and mentioned the stipulations that apply to them. One such stipulation is that the average rent in east Cork would have to equal or exceed the national average rent in order to negotiate or discuss the possibility of having more rent pressure zones in the area. The problem is that the current national average is €1,122 per month. The national average rent is going up, as are rents in east Cork. However, the average rent in east Cork is not catching up with the national average. It is a case of a dog chasing its tail. The rent pressure zone legislation must be considered and urgently reviewed. I welcome that Fianna Fáil is supporting the Bill. However, I am surprised that it did not demand that this be addressed in the confidence and supply agreement. The rent pressure zones are due to expire at the end of 2019. Is there a plan for what will happen thereafter? What can Members tell tenants in their constituencies who are affected by this issue? Many tenants are in a very precarious situation. Many live day to day because they do not know whether they will get a letter in the door stating that a family member of the landlord is returning to Ireland, so the tenant must move out and tough luck. That has happened on many occasions.

Affordable housing seems to be non-existent. That must be addressed because there are people and families who do not qualify for a mortgage but are just over the threshold for qualifying for social housing.

HAP was mentioned. It is very difficult to persuade some landlords to participate in HAP. A landlord who registers a one-bedroom apartment may receive a HAP of, for example, €750. However, the demand for property is so high that the landlord could obtain €1,000 or €1,200 per month in cash for the property. Further regulation is needed in that regard.

I do not wish to bash landlords. As many Deputies stated, there are some fabulous landlords as well as fabulous tenants. However, no matter where one goes, there are always a few bad apples. The Bill strengthens the rights of both landlords and tenants. It offers security to tenants such that they know that a property will meet a certain quality level and be safe and dry. Many constituents have come to my office regarding substandard properties, some of which are in a deplorable condition and may be covered in mould. It took almost two and a half years to resolve one such case. Some properties in such condition were held by certain agencies which work in conjunction with local authorities. I will not name them but the Minister knows the agencies to which I refer. Some of their properties are in deplorable condition and totally substandard. That is also sometimes the case in the voluntary housing sector. I have no problem giving the Minister the information I have in that regard. Some of the properties were medically unfit for habitation but were being sublet to management agencies and had been forgotten about by the big boys who had probably been misinformed or not informed about the situation. However, it is the tenant who lives and suffers in such properties. Many tenants remain out of fear. They do not want to complain because, like the gravy train, if one falls out the door there might be 40 people waiting to fill the spot. It is a dog eat dog scenario.

The social and mental impact of what is happening in the property sector must be recognised. Unfortunately, some people who were in mortgage arrears and genuinely tried to pay their bills and mortgages and so on are no longer with us. That is the reality. Because of the prevalence of zero-hour contracts and other jobs without security, there is a generation which cannot get a loan but for whom the social housing thresholds are too low. That generation cannot access funding to get onto the property ladder. Couples with very young children who are working pillar to post are forced to stay in his parents' house one night and her parents' house the next night. It starts to become a battle between the children, who must choose whether they sleep in the same house as their mother or their father each night. That is happening because people cannot get suitable accommodation. The Minister remembers how bad the weather was last winter, particularly during the snow. I know of a family which was living in a mobile home without heating because they had nowhere else to go. They had been squatting but had to leave the property. These are the realities of what is happening in the housing market today.

It is very welcome that the RTB is getting more powers but local authorities should also have more. There should be more investment in inspectors and so on. Local authorities do a fabulous job. The staff in them are under unbelievable pressure. It is very difficult to shovel snow when it is still snowing, however. We work very well with the local authority, including staff on a one-to-one basis. The staff are really genuine but they are so stressed and under strain because they do not have the capacity or the properties to hand to constituents.

Let me refer to the silent homeless, who are not talked about. They are another product of the downturn or crash. Before the crash, many families had good jobs, did their best, had mortgages, reared their children and sent them to college. The children have now emigrated and are working, which is fine. Between the stresses and strains of the crash, failing mortgages, marriages breaking up and the banks taking back properties, those who are left, the parents, are now couch surfing in their own parents' homes. They are too embarrassed even to admit this.

I encountered a case number of years ago the circumstances of which were absolutely disgusting. Events very similar to what I have described affected the family in question but they could not even go back into their old estate to visit former next-door neighbours because there was a barring order meaning they could not go within 200 m of their old home. The mother told me that when she went to visit from afar, a young former neighbour, who was probably six at the time, was inside kicking the for-sale sign down. These are realities.

It is great to be talking about ideas but, realistically, we are looking for solutions. Sinn Féin has mentioned this. A three-year rent freeze is not a bad idea as it gives us all time to come up with plans. It is not anti-landlord or pro-tenant but it is about giving us time to get things right.

A couple of other points were mentioned. Refundable rent relief for renters was mentioned. It is good idea. We must assist everybody. The rolling out of cost rental models across the whole State is not rocket science. We must also consider ways of speeding up the planning permission process. This has also been mentioned to me. We must consider how to assist councils in every way we can. This includes municipal district councils. Even before the town councils were disbanded, there was local knowledge, a local touch and local support, and there was a check on the properties of the town council every day of the week. If there was an issue, it was addressed. We have to go back to the old days. Let us go back to what was done in the 1970s when there was nothing here but when we still built houses people could afford.

When we talk about houses and properties, we must remember people want to cherish them as homes. A home is very different from a house. A home is where memories are formed and where there is a sense of security and warmth. There is a genuine, knock-on effect involving harmony and social respect. A home makes one proud of who one is and one respects one's neighbours. There is a knock-on effect that makes society much more sociable. When this occurs, everybody works together. We have lost that in Ireland. It is all about what we have and can get rather than worrying about others. That has to stop.

I welcome the Bill. There will be amendments. Anything we can do to assist both tenants and landlords and to assist local authorities in trying to produce more social and affordable homes has to be welcomed.

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