Victor Boyhan (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State. I have not had an opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment. He has been in the House but our paths have not crossed. We worked very well and collaboratively on housing previously, especially concerning the Planning and Development Act 2024, as it is now. The Minister of State has vast experience in and knowledge of local government, particularly regarding housing. He is clearly suited to the post and I wish him every success.

I raise the issue of the need for the Minister for housing to commit to a review of the residential tenancies legislation to regulate the landlord functions of local authority-owned dwellings and to formalise this aspect. I was prompted to do this because a great announcement was made by the Minister of State's Department to clap itself on the back, and rightly so, for the level of inspections of the private sector. It is right that there should be inspections of the private sector. However, no one is talking about who is inspecting council properties. I do not know if the Minister of State saw a report from Samantha Libreri on RTÉ featuring a property in Coolock in north county Dublin with a rodent infestation and electrical sockets hanging off the walls. The tenant was live on the news as well talking about her experience of trying to get support. The report is in the news on the RTÉ Player and can be seen anytime.

I am calling for the mandatory inspection and certification of all properties. We have this approach for the private sector but not for the public sector. Some of the largest landlords in this country are our 31 local authorities, which have thousands of houses. Their tenants should have exactly the same rights and be afforded the same rights and opportunities in terms of redress. We also need certification. Of course, the embarrassment is that many of these properties would not pass certification. Many of the local authority properties we expect people to live in have tenants who in most cases have very limited means and cannot afford repairs themselves. I do not want to use a generalisation, but they are not getting the support of their landlord, which in this case is one of the 31 local authorities.

The figures published by the Minister of State's Department show that more than half of all private rental properties inspected last year did not initially meet the legally enforced standards. No mention was made of the local authorities and the standards in that regard. Let us put figures on this. The necessary standards were not met by 37,800 properties. That was out of a total of 62,085 properties inspected. Under the 2019 housing regulations, all private rental properties on the market must meet strict criteria in terms of heat, ventilation, natural light, fire safety, and health and safety. The Minister of State knows the score. Again, there is no mention of the local authorities. Council tenants have no right to an independent inspection of their homes. They simply do not have that right. They must go back to their local authority, which in this case is also their landlord. I think this is wrong. Council tenants should have access to independent adjudication in respect of complaints procedures. The only right they have now is to go to the Ombudsman. If they have a load of dosh, they can hand it to a load of lawyers and go through the courts, but I do not think that is right, appropriate or fair. It should not happen.

I have raised the issue of the Housing Commission report published in May 2024. It is a disgrace that we have not discussed it in the House. There has not been enough discussion of the report and many of its recommendations. For some reason, the Government does not wish to take on board many of those recommendations. It has taken on board some, but not many others. I reckon we should look at the report again if there is an opportunity in the future.

I am calling for tenants in local authorities to have full and equal access to these the Residential Tenancies Board. The current situation is simply unacceptable. I will leave it there, other than to say that we should give all tenants the same rights. Let us not distinguish between the rights of public and private tenants. All tenants should have the same rights.