Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael)

To pick up on Senator Barrett's last point, a house is just somewhere to live but, unfortunately, for some people it became a commodity and we have seen the set of problems that created for this economy on many fronts in the past decade.

Today we are focusing on the rental sector. We had a briefing this morning on the Central Statistics Office figures and it was pointed out to us that 475,000 people are renting including private renting, assisted renting and renting directly from the local authority. That is an increase of 300,000, or 60%, on the last census figure.

As we are aware, renting is a real option for people and in the circumstances in which many individuals and families find themselves, renting will probably be what they must do for the foreseeable future, and perhaps for the remainder of their lives. This country is not equipped for that scenario. We only have to look at the number of landlords versus the properties available to rent. It is estimated that there are approximately 1.6 properties per landlord, which compared with Europe or other countries is very low, and as a result there are landlords who are not professional landlords. They did not set out to make a career out of it. They have another job or they may have acquired a property and thought it would be a good idea to rent it.

I represent a city which has two third level institutions and a mobile population. Landlords have bought the houses. They want to maximise the rent but they are not prepared to invest in them in terms of providing services for the tenant. They just want the return from the investment.

In general, we do not have professional landlords who are serious about their business. There are some exceptions to that rule, one of which is the local authorities in terms of the support they give to their tenants. When I first became a member of a housing committee in Cork City Council over ten years ago we had a debate on single parents during which the housing officer said that the best thing a young person with a family can do is engage with the local authority which provides the services many of them need. Many of those people have difficulties in accessing services and getting around what they perceive to be officialdom. Local authorities are good landlords and provide good service and support to their tenants. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, referred earlier to the rental accommodation scheme which is a very important scheme that has been extremely successful. Rent supplement was only meant to be a temporary measure but has evolved into a semi-permanent measure and it is not appropriate. It traps individuals in that they cannot access employment for fear of losing their rent supplement.

The rental accommodation scheme, whereby the local authority deals directly with the landlord, has been extremely successful on a number of fronts. It gives the tenant security of tenure in that he or she is guaranteed that the landlord will not come along at the end of a six or twelve month contract and ask the tenant to leave, claiming that the property is required for personal reasons or for another tenant. The scheme also gives the landlord the certainty that he or she will have a tenant and a relationship with the local authority for a certain period, be it three, four or five years. Therefore, from the landlord's point of view, income is guaranteed for 12 months of the year whereas if tenants are constantly changing, the landlord often loses out on rent for a month or two in the changeover period. Furthermore, in a period when we are not building any more local authority housing, the scheme provides local authorities with an avenue through which they can house tenants. The scheme also ensures that there is a minimum standard of accommodation, which is extremely important and from what I have seen in my own area, housing standards are improving. The rental accommodation scheme is very popular and successful and I urge the Minister to ensure it continues.

Regarding the rent supplement, the cap in Cork is €715 per month. If one looks on www.daft.ie, the average rent for a two-bedroom house is €770 per month. Therefore, tenants are surrendering, on the sideline, additional money to landlords. Both tenants and landlords are in on this scheme. This is happening in urban areas, particularly in Dublin and Cork. Pressure is being put on tenants to pay additional money and for such tenants, the rental accommodation scheme is the way forward.