E/C.12/IRL/CO/3 Adequate housing 26. The Committee is concerned at the overall difficult housing situation in the State party, which includes the: (a) Continuing gaps between availability and demand for social housing, which result in a long waiting list for social housing; (b) Increased costs of rental housing and reduced family incomes; (c) Ineffective social support programmes, such as the Rent Supplements and the Housing Assistance Payment, which do not reflect rent increases; (d) Increasing number of long-term mortgage arrears; (e) Growing number of families and children that are homeless or are at risk of being homeless as a result of the lack of social housing and the inadequate levels of rent supplement; (f) Lack of effective complaint mechanisms for local authority tenants on tenancy-related issues. 27. The Committee is also concerned at the lack of culturally appropriate accommodation provided to Travellers and Roma and of adequate legal protection of Traveller families at risk of eviction (art. 11). The Committee draws the State party’s attention to its general comments No. 4 (1991) on the right to adequate housing and No. 7 (1997) on the right to adequate housing: forced evictions and recommends that the State party: (a) Review policies with a view to making them more effective in responding to the real needs of the population, especially disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups; (b) Step up its efforts to increase the number of social housing units so as to satisfy the high demand and to reduce the long waiting list; (c) Consider introducing legislation on private rent and increasing rent supplement levels; (d) Consider introducing banking regulations in order to strengthen protection for mortgage borrowers in arrears, including through the provision of an independent appeal system to assist such borrowers in negotiating, with legal and financial advice, an equitable arrangement with their lenders to address their arrears situations; (e) Take all the measures necessary to meet the critical needs of those who are homeless or who are at risk of being homeless; (f) Establish effective complaint mechanisms for local authority tenants on housing issues. The Committee also reiterates its previous recommendations (see E/C.12/1/Add.77, paras. 32–33) that the State party take steps to provide Travellers and Roma with culturally appropriate accommodation in consultation with them and ensure that the funding allocated to Traveller housing at the local level is fully and appropriately spent to this end. Health-care services 28. The Committee is concerned at the overall deterioration in health-care services due to significant budget cuts in public health in recent years and at the negative impact on 8