asked the Minister for Local Government if he will make arrangements with Dublin Corporation for regular automatic reassessment of the income of tenants on B scale differential rents to avoid the heavy burden of repayment frequently placed upon such tenants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Differential Rents.
16.
I would refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 12 of the 5th March, 1968, on this subject.
Would the Minister not think it a good idea to elaborate on that reply now? This is the Nineteenth Dáil?
I have no objection to reading the reply of 5th March, 1968, again.
Thank you.
Shall I read it out, a Cheann Comhairle? It is not all that long. Otherwise it can be circulated.
Is the Minister aware of the great hardship caused to tenants in B-scale areas?
There would be no hardship caused if tenants adhered to their tenancy agreements.
Agreed, but is the Minister aware that his agents have, in fact, recently billed a person who has an assessable income of £3 with a rent of £2?
Who did the Deputy say had billed them?
The Minister's agents
I have no agents in this matter.
The commissioner Who appointed the commissioner?
No. The commissioner is doing the work that Deputy Ryan and his colleagues undertook to do and refused to do.
The Minister put us out and put him in to do his dirty work.
He is fulfilling the responsibility to the citizens of Dublin that Deputy Ryan reneged on.
The Minister would not let us run things in the way the people wanted and put in his man.
Deputy Ryan and his colleagues purported to provide services for the citizens of Dublin and then refused to provide the money to implement them.
The Minister put in his man to do it.
First, I think the Minister should have read out the reply of 5th March, 1968.
I have no objection to doing so.
Secondly, I would like to ask the Minister is he aware that many tenants are not aware of the fact that extra rent is due by them? They are given very short notice, court orders and evictions. This has happened in many cases without tenants being aware of the fact that they are liable for arrears of rent under this scheme. Is he aware of this?
It is provided in the tenancy agreement that the tenants will notify changes in their income to the local authority and any tenant who adheres to the terms of his agreement will not have these substantial arrears accumulating.
Would the Minister not agree that tenants are not quite aware of their agreements under this scheme, are not aware of their obligations, and would he make these facts known to the tenants or would he instruct the commissioner of Dublin Corporation to do this work? It all boils down to one thing—lack of communication.
I doubt if tenants in general are not aware of their obligations under the agreement but I will draw the attention of Dublin Corporation to the desirability of circularising the tenants to this effect.
Would the Minister not agree that undue hardship can possibly be caused to a family on the B scale that have an assessable income of £3 a week and are billed with £2 rent by Dublin Corporation and would he investigate such matters, which are a common occurrence all over Dublin?
This hardship can only arise through failure on the part of the tenants to adhere to the agreement they made with the local authority.
This is a question of national assistance.
May I inquire from the Minister if he would be prepared to set up in the various municipal housing estates information and advisory bureaux that would be available to tenants so that they could notify within the areas in which they live various income changes and be made fully aware of their entitlements, rather than have to traipse several miles into the corporation?
The Minister for Local Government could not set up this type of bureaux.
Dublin Corporation could.
I am not Dublin Corporation.
The Minister's commissioner could.
Not my commissioner —the citizens of Dublin.
Question No. 17. There have been six supplementary questions on No. 16.
I am afraid the Minister is a bureaucrat at heart.