Residential Tenancies and Valuation Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2020-07-31
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Mary Fitzpatrick (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I think 28 days is a very short period of time for anybody to get anything done when he or she is dealing with public administration or complex issues like this. Any low-income worker will already be on a housing list. He or she should already be on a local authority or voluntary housing list. He or she will be in receipt of HAP or rent supplement and if the HAP or rent supplement is insufficient, there is facility to have it increased. I have helped many people do this. They have had to do this because of all of the pressure caused by increasing rents. The reality is that if anybody is under financial pressure, he or she needs to access the supports because we need to make tenancies sustainable and 28 days should not be an issue. However, it is key that there is greater awareness of the emergency rent supplement that is available. Homeless HAP has become the default in Dublin. HAP itself will not secure someone a tenancy. The increased allowances on homeless HAP represent the default and this is still insufficient. It does not take away from the fundamental issue of affordability, which we must address in other ways.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-07-31