Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his election to his position. We were seven-plus months seeking a debate in this House on this matter, which is incredible. I hope the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, in his role, can assist all Members who request speaking time so they do not have to wait seven months for a debate on something so important as the Housing Commission report.

I would like to use my time to focus on the tenant in situ scheme. There are a couple of elements to it. The first is the most pressing: there is no money for the scheme at the moment. People in my constituency with whom I am dealing have gone into homelessness in the past week because of the tenant in situ scheme application process. Landlords we were engaging with wanted to sell properties to the council and keep tenants in their properties. In both cases, the tenants have been in them for more than a decade. Those concerned were through the process and then got letters to say there was no funding for the scheme anymore, meaning the properties could no longer be purchased. The tenants are now in emergency accommodation. This is absolutely unacceptable. I am not 100% comfortable with the tenant in situ scheme. It has its issues. It was put in place as an emergency measure to keep people out of homelessness and it is utterly failing. Before the money was pulled, we had the issue of councils saying, without giving detail, that particular properties did not meet the required standards, but they did not indicate what standards the properties failed to meet. Therefore, there is a heap of problems associated with pushing tenant in situ scheme applications through to a conclusion and keeping people in their properties. It seems there is resistance at council level. Also part of it is a lack of resources at council level. The same people who are dealing with homelessness, HAP applications and allocations also have to go through tenant in situ processes. They have not been resourced properly. Now we have the main problem, the Government problem, which is that the councils are not being funded to go through with the applications that are in process. It is an absolute catastrophe and something I ask the Minister to resolve with much urgency.

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