Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This abolishes substantial refurbishment or renovation as a ground for eviction, in line with our view that we need to stop all evictions for the foreseeable future, given the crisis we face. More generally, beyond this immediate crisis, we need for those who enter into the rental sector to understand that the people who rent from them have rights and require security of tenancy. We often talk about having a rental sector that is more like the European model. Various people say we have to accept there will be a bigger rental sector in Ireland. It seems to me that we cannot do that unless we change fundamentally the nature of the private rental sector to the effect that those who get involved in the business of renting out property understand that this is not just something they can flit into and flit out of again, treat tenants with contempt, disregard the impact of their actions on tenants or leave them high and dry.

It speaks for itself. I do not see why renovation or substantial refurbishment should be a ground for eviction. I refer to the example I am familiar with, as it is staring me in the face every day across the road from my constituency clinic on Main Street, Dún Laoghaire. This is a loophole speculators and property investors are constantly trying to utilise. We need to close it down. If someone needs to renovate a place, it does not mean the tenants have to leave. They can be housed somewhere else for a while. Indeed, one of the points we made when they were trying to evict tenants from that particular development was that they had a couple of empty places anyway and there was no reason they could not undertake the refurbishments and move tenants around as they did so within the same development. That is what they should do. Landlords need to have a responsibility to tenants and understand tenants have a right to long-term secure tenancies.