I fully support the proposals being put forward to improve accommodation for the people living in the flat complexes in Dublin city. I have been to many of them over the years and I have seen at first hand the difficult conditions that people are living in. I will turn to private rental accommodation and apartments. In County Laois, there are 5,600 households who are living in private rented accommodation. A lot of them are flats and apartments. Some of the older private rented stock is in very bad condition. Tenants complain to me about dampness, mould, poor ventilation and houses that are impossible to heat. This creates health issues. It is not just a housing issue; it creates a health issue as well. Tenants in private rented accommodation are often reluctant to complain because it is followed up by an inspection from the council which can lead to a notice to quit. I have seen examples of where a notice to quit follows the inspection. Of the 5,600 private rented homes, 227 were inspected last year by the Laois County Council inspector and of those 227 - this is a telling figure - 176 received an improvement notice. That means 80% of the landlords of those properties got a notice to improve them. That high percentage shows that some are in a very bad condition. Tenants can often get a notice to quit. After a period of time, the flat or house is re-let. Much of the private rental stock has a very poor energy rating and this well known. Every TD here knows this. There is very poor insulation and a very poor energy rating. In turn, they have sky-high energy costs because they are heated by very expensive electricity meters. We know today that we have the highest electricity costs in the European Union. We must change this. On top of all of that, rents in County Laois continue to skyrocket. A two-bedroom flat now makes €1,600 plus per month. There are examples of three-bedroom houses for rent for in excess of €2,000 per month. In fact, one house was advertised for €3,000 per month. People on low and middle incomes who are living in private rented accommodation are those hardest hit because they are not on the fuel allowance, they do not have any other supports and they are paying for a whole range of other things as well, such as health costs, and are commuting - in some cases as far as Dublin city - to work every day. They are really being caught. They are paying high rents, ever-increasing high energy costs and a high cost for everything else. On the Laois County Council part of it, a lot of the housing stock is fairly new and built in recent years. That is in fairly good condition and a lot of it has a reasonably good energy rating but there is a lot of stock that has to be improved as well. There are over 2,400 council dwellings in the county. At the moment, 250 properties from the older stock are getting a deep retrofit. Some others have had more minor energy upgrades. That work has been successful but it needs more money because the midlands just transition fund, which was mainly funding it, is running out. It has now run out so Government funding is needed to keep it going. I urge the Government to keep the funding going for the remaining Laois County Council houses, particularly the older ones that need further upgrading. I also urge the Government to ensure enforcement standards are improved for private rented accommodation and for council housing as well, including what we spoke about earlier. We need to put the onus on landlords to improve the energy rating of the rental stock. We cannot have tenants paying the highest rents in the worst accommodation with the most expensive electricity.

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