SINN FÉIN Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin called for the prosecution of landlords who breach Government-imposed standards for private rented dwellings. “Successive Fianna Fáil-led governments have pursued a disastrous non-policy on housing over the past decade.
“That approach to housing was developer-driven and greed-based. It was fuelled, not by the housing needs of the people, but by the profit motive of developers and the avarice of banks and other lending institutions.”
Mr Ó Caoláin was speaking during a joint Labour-Fine Gael private member’s motion calling for a moratorium on house repossessions during the recession. He said more than 40,000 households in the private rental sector received the rent supplement.
“These households are far more likely to live in dwellings which do not meet the Government’s existing standards. Many of these tenants live on a low income and are more at risk of living in sub-standard units.”
He said that between 2002 and 2006, 33,644 dwellings in the private rented sector were inspected. Some 10,162 did not meet existing legal standards, but only 79 legal actions were taken.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said the homeless sector was getting an increase in funding against a background of a severe economic recession.
