Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. He is correct that it is different in different parts of the country. It is of particular concern that in Dublin the amount of new build social housing units built directly by the local authority is very low. In 2019 only 45 newly built housing units were directly provided by Dublin City Council. About half of those were Priory Hall units that had been brought up to standard. It is very concerning.

It relates to the Minister of State's comments earlier about homelessness services and where the units for moving people out of homelessness are coming from. One of the issues that sets us apart from most other countries dealing with homelessness is that local authorities are sourcing most of those units from the private sector, which means there is not a consistent and sustainable supply. Compared with countries such as Finland, which has come very close to meeting its targets of eliminating homelessness, we have been going in the opposite direction. One of the key differences between us and them is that we rely heavily on the private sector for units. There is a competing demand all the time, which pushes up housing costs for first-time buyers and so forth.

Given the issue of rent arrears in the private rented residential sector and how that will impact on local authorities dealing with homelessness, and given the increased problem of homelessness that will result when rent arrears surface once the ban on evictions is lifted, what measures is the Government considering to protect tenants and landlords in terms of rent arrears? Will it consider initiatives such as a statutory alternative to evictions such as repayment plans, debt forgiveness schemes, mediation and so forth?

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