Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the necessary changes provided for in this Bill. I refer to a point raised by Senator Prendergast relating to landlords and tenants. She is quite correct that there is a stigma attached to being a recipient of social welfare. Some landlords regard social welfare recipients as being different and troublesome. It is stated there are 150,000 claims for rent supplement and only 31,000 landlords registered. While I could be wrong in this, I understood a landlord was required to supply the necessary information on his or her annual tax return. I have come across cases where auctioneers were involved and a prospective tenant would ask the auctioneer how much rent was being sought. The auctioneer would say the amount sought was €650, but would tell the landlord he or she could only get €550. I have come across a number of cases where tenants were in arrears. At present the tenant gets the cheque directly, cashes it and squanders it. In one case it was on drink, resulting in the tenant being in arrears. I made a call to a welfare officer on behalf of a landlord and the welfare officer advised that the tenant was getting €650 but the landlord was only getting €550 from him. At the time the HSE advised me that it does not want to get involved because it does not want to become a landlord. I believe it is still the case that the tenant can make an arrangement with the landlord for direct payment to the landlord but many of them do not want to, which is a problem.

As Senator Prendergast said, I have also encountered people who are housed in inadequate accommodation because they are doing dickey-up jobs with landlords and both are getting a few quid out of it so everyone is happy. They are living in hovels that are completely unsuitable and in addition they are not keeping the place right. Neighbours are complaining about the poor state of the rented accommodation. Is the example I have given legal? Is there a way around it? Does the Bill deal with that issue adequately from the landlord's point of view? The landlords tell me that everything is weighted against the landlord and in favour of the tenant.

I welcome the transfer of responsibility for FÁS to the Department of Social Protection. It is popular to bash FÁS. While many things happened that should not, in general FÁS did considerable good work. I know instructors in FÁS and I also know people who came through courses in FÁS and were very satisfied.

There are myths about non-Irish nationals in receipt of social welfare. For example, I was told about a non-Irish national who used a social welfare cheque to buy a second-hand car for €3,000. I asked my informant if he could back it up but he did not want to give more information. When I checked it out, it transpired that the cheque related to arrears. Other myths were that they were getting mobile phones and other things for free. I would like the Minister to clarify whether that is the case because it is a pain when I have to explain this to people morning, noon and night.