Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The work the Minister of State has done on this question is highly interesting and I appreciate it. She has even formulated a bit of a solution to the issue of private rental accommodation. A huge amount of inspections have been done by Clare County Council. I rent and my property has been inspected. I was impressed by how quickly the council conducted the work. There is an issue with failure rates and getting landlords to comply, which the Minister of State touched on.

Going back to social housing, our climate is predisposed to dampness but so is the climate of the Netherlands and the Dutch Government in 2015 published guidelines giving clarity to levels of enforcement options for repeat or severe offences. The public prosecutions office may prosecute as an economic offence and give punishments like community service, asset seizure or even imprisonment - I was shocked to read that. Their housing stock is 31% social housing while I understand ours is only 9%.

There are good examples we could rely upon and use in introducing further regulations and protections for renters. The UK has significantly deeper protections. For example, the fitness for human habitation Act 2018 explicitly lists freedom from damp and extends that duty to all landlords without reservation. We could rely on such legislation and work on something here to make properties more habitable. This has a direct effect on our health service, which is an important piece to keep in mind.

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