Results 6,941-6,960 of 8,833 for speaker:Verona Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: When the system was being specced, how did such a huge deficit arise?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: Did the RTB not know what it was asking for or what the requirements were? Did it not ask the right people?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: Such as? Mr. Kelly stated they were not anticipated, but the idea of speccing something is to cover everything. Will he explain what he means by "technical complexities"?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: Was it not anticipated that data would have to be transferred to the new system?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: We do not have much time, so Mr. Kelly might send a detailed note on what the additional cost entailed, over and above the initial tender or spec. He might submit that to the committee.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: It is all at a cost, however. The taxpayer is paying all the time, and there are people who cannot eat because they are trying to pay exorbitant rents. That is a fact of life. We are all sitting here in a dry, comfortable space while the anxiety among people in respect of what is happening in the real world is mind-boggling. I do not want to sit here discussing millions of euro as if they...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: That answers that question. Rents in County Wexford in the final quarter of 2021 alone increased by 15%. Was that anticipated? Did any research take place to say there were only so many houses available in Wexford and to take account of the fact rents would increase? One tenant who has approached me was paying €800 in rent and the landlord increased that by €175 within two...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: I asked how the RTB advises the Government. This is a crisis because we are not building houses to alleviate the problem, so we have to do something about the rental market. Mr. Dunne stated that the rent increases were the same as increases in earnings. I would understand an increase in earnings of 15% if somebody was working for Davy but not if he or she worked for a supermarket or a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: I am concerned about the level of interpretation here as regards how we are managing this and what advice the Government is getting. The Taoiseach made a statement about how the Berlin system of rent controls has not worked; I beg to differ, but not in this forum. I want to know how the RTB, as an organisation paid for solely out of taxpayers' money, advises the Government on what actions...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: I know what the RTB's function is. I am asking Mr. Dunne what information the board has provided.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: How does the RTB prevent an increase of 15% in a county such as Wexford?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: How does the RTB advise the Government, in that case?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: Does the board know how many houses are available to rent in Wexford?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: That does not concern the board.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: That is what I am trying to get to the nub of. How much information does the RTB have to corroborate the advice it gives to the Government? If we are not building houses, rents will continue to increase. If we are not able to curb supply-and-demand issues, we will continue to have a serious problem with rent, as we do currently. I acknowledge this is not our guests' area, but last week...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: This might not be a matter for this forum, but I have encountered an issue where a HAP tenant has been trying to be released from HAP for four months and he has not yet got a call back from the Department. Is that not unbelievable? This is at a time when we are under such severe constrains regarding money, housing and everything else. I return to the issue in Wexford. It is an exorbitant...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: It is not just Oireachtas Members. The most frequent complaint that I hear from landlords is about response times or getting phone calls answered. Their main complaint is that if a tenant makes a complaint one can ring landlords instantly, although that is their analogy, but if landlords have a problem with a tenant and need advice then they cannot even get a callback and in that case I...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: I appreciate that but I would have thought that that was an important piece of data necessary for compiling advice on rent controls. Obviously the board knows where the pressure zones are going to be and it is how that data is compiled, and how the board provides that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020 (24 Feb 2022)

Verona Murphy: Yes.