Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On the general point of people building up rent arrears, most Members are aware that under the new scheme proposed in this Bill there will be deduction at source and the local authorities will not be able to take more than 15% of the person's income in respect of arrears, which addresses the point about people taking on more than they can afford and trying to pay back huge amounts of money that they cannot afford. That will be dealt with for the future.

With regard to the issue around assessments, the new rent schemes will be adopted by the new councils next year and we will be providing clarity on how they assess who is and is not on the tenancy in regard to those schemes.

On the specific point about the legislation with regard to guidelines, it is section 5 of the 2009 Act that deals with the guidelines.

See this speech in context