Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister to the House. Like Senator Ó Clochartaigh, I thank the Leader for the opportunity to bring this important motion before the House.

My colleague, Senator Ó Clochartaigh, has outlined the difficulties, in terms of changes to the rent supplement, facing many of the families. Staff in my office, as I am sure are staff of other Members, councillors and citizens information centres, are currently dealing with large volumes of families affected by this measure. The Government decision to lower the rent caps and force individual tenants to renegotiate rents is causing great upheaval and anxiety for families throughout the country. As stated by Senator Ó Clochartaigh these rent caps often do not reflect market value. Even if they did, it is unacceptable to expect tenants, who are already in precarious situations, to renegotiate rents with their landlords, who may be unable or unwilling to do so.

These policies will oblige tenants to move out of their homes and the areas in which they and their children are living and attending school. There are alternatives to these policies. There are actions that the Government can take in the interests of all parties, which would not cause any hardship. Tenants affected by this cut in rent supplement are being left in the dark and are receiving little information on what is happening, other than being told by their local social welfare offices to renegotiate their rents, in respect of which they are receiving no advice or information. The Department and social welfare offices should be working with tenants and providing them with advice and support to ensure they are not forced to move. There is a role for HEOs, formerly CWOs, in resolving this difficulty. We appeal to them to take all reasonable steps to ensure tenants have appropriate accommodation. We acknowledge that officials do have a degree of flexibility in individual cases but the position in this regard needs to clarified and enhanced. The role of these officers is key to ensuring that the human ramifications of any policy deficiencies are limited.

There is a need for more concrete action in this area. The Department is at the end of the day in a far better bargaining position than are tenants, many of whom are isolated, vulnerable and in precarious situations. The Department commands the budget for rent supplement and a landlord will be slow to refuse to engage with it. For this reason, the Department needs to take action rather than leave this responsibility to individual tenants. The Department should directly negotiate with landlords in regard to the rates of rent supplement. This, rather than subsidising landlords, is the approach it should be taking if it wants to save money in this area. Private landlords are being subsidised by the taxpayer to the tune of more than €500 million.

The Government amendment states that there is no direct relationship between the Department of Social Protection and landlords. While that may be the case, this does not mean the Department could not have a role. Clearly, it should. As all tenancies are registered with the PRTB this information is readily available. It is within the Department's gift to take responsibility for this area. In the longer term the Government needs to put in place measures to take the tenant out of the equation entirely with the landlord being paid directly by the Department. Not only would this reduce the tenant's anxiety, it would cut out under the table cash payments. The Irish Property Owners Association has called for such a scheme and it would be in the best interests of all parties.

It is clear much of the difficulty in this area comes from years of chronic under-investment in public housing. This is evidenced by the almost 90,000 to 100,000 people on the housing list and the fact that less than half of the €500 million used to subsidise private landlords is spent on social housing. It would be far more cost-effective to invest in the purchase of social housing via NAMA or otherwise. This is not a minor issue. It is an issue fast approaching crisis point and I want to stress this. Where are these people supposed to go if their landlords refuse to reduce their rents, but rents across the board are at the same level? Some community welfare officers have suggested they approach the homeless services. The number sleeping rough in Dublin has risen and I presume this is also true throughout the country. The increase in Dublin stands at 20%. It is not good enough for the Government to table amendments with no substantial proposals to resolve the issue and ask those who have only a matter of weeks or days to renegotiate their rents to await the housing assistance payment scheme, which appears to be known only to the Minister. This is why I, in seconding the motion, ask the Seanad to support the unamended motion.