I thank the Chair for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter. I tabled a parliamentary question on this matter yesterday but, unfortunately, because of time constraints, I could not respond to the points raised in the Minister of State's reply.
I appreciate that the Minister of State cannot intervene in individual housing cases, nor do I expect that he would do so. I also want to answer a point he made yesterday. The Minister said that I should contact Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in respect of the issues I have raised. I assure the Minister that I would not bring them to the floor of this House unless I had made numerous representations, written and by telephone, without much success. The Minister can ensure that the local authority applies the letting priorities scheme in accordance with the scheme approved by him and his Department. This is what I am asking.
I will highlight the manner in which gross overcrowding points are applied. I will repeat the examples I gave yesterday. A widow with a 14 year old son and a 19 year old daughter living in a one bedroom flat does not get any points for gross overcrowding or for her daughter because she is now over 18. What that has to do with housing conditions is beyond me. I raised this matter with the local authority with no success.
The next case I mentioned was that of a mother and daughter in her early 20s. The mother was evicted from the house she had rented for a number of years because her rent, as is common in my area, was increased from £400 per month to £800. She fought the case in both the District Court and the Circuit Court. She then had to move in with her son and daughter in law and their baby, who live in a two bedroom house. Points are not given for the daughter because she is now in her early 20s, despite the fact that this lady has been on the housing list for eight to ten years. When she went on the housing list, her daughter was in her early teens. Neither are gross overcrowding points being given despite the fact that they are sleeping the same bedroom as the grandchild and her daughter shares the bed with the grandchild. The answer I got to my query was that it was not the proper use of accommodation. In a two bedroom house? Simple overcrowding points but no gross overcrowding points were given. In that case, if the person had been given the correct points, she would be at the top of the list.
In the third case a divorced mother and her daughter, aged 17, are sleeping on a mattress in the sitting room because the bedrooms are full. The local authority refuses to give gross overcrowding points because it says the sleeping area is adequate given the measurements of the room. Since when are people expected to live in the sitting room on a mattress on the floor? By the same logic, if a person lives in the back yard, they will not get gross overcrowding points because the yard is too big.
These are matters which are subject to a letting priority scheme which should be the business of the Department of the Environment and Local Government and the Minister of the day.
Will the Minister in his reply say if he thinks it is reasonable that there should be a cessation of points when a child reaches 18 because that then reduces the number of points a person has, despite the fact that the child is still living with the applicant? It has nothing to do with housing conditions.
In his reply yesterday, the Minister stated that it is ten years since the explanatory notes and guidelines were issued by his Department for housing authorities. I respectfully suggest that after ten years it is time those guidelines were updated and that the Department pays attention to how the letting priority schemes are being worked by the local authorities, particularly by the environmental health officers who carry out the inspections.
I recognise that it is a matter for the local authority members to draw up a letting priority scheme but my understanding, confirmed by the Minister's reply, is that each time it is altered, it requires his and the Department's approval. I have been a public representative for 25 years and never in that time have I witnessed worse housing conditions in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area. It is extraordinary that in a local authority area where there is no programme to deal with a list of 1,800 people, there is no land available and people are left on the housing list while stricter application of the scheme is applied by the local authority.
I would like the Minister to respond to the points I have made rather than give an overall statement from the Department. I do not expect him to intervene in any particular case, I am only asking for fair play so that people who are living in appalling conditions are given the points they should get and that we cut out this nonsense. Will he give me an assurance, given that / am highlighting these cases, that he will examine the housing situation in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown housing authority?