Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill and the opportunity to speak on it. I compliment the Minister of State who is doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances and with a difficult economic background. The mind boggles to hear one of the Fianna Fáil contributors, Deputy Browne, moaning and giving out about the fact more money is not available to the Minister of State to spend on building new housing. We all know that Fianna Fáil destroyed our international reputation, our economy and confidence in politics. In particular Fianna Fáil in its 14 years in government wreaked havoc on everything to do with housing in the State. For a Fianna Fáil Deputy to make the point he did is nothing short of outrageous and shows brass neck. The other Fianna Fáil contributor was particularly measured in his comments.

We all welcome the Bill, especially in how it reforms the landlord and tenant regulatory environment. There is benefit on both sides, particularly for the tenant. The area of dispute mediation has been addressed, and a particular area of concern is the illegal retention of deposits. It is not in all cases that the retention of the deposit is illegal. The black economy will be tackled in some fashion with the new legislation, although not completely, and it is an area which still causes concern particularly to the honourable members of the industry who are compliant. Perhaps further work could follow in this regard. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of it.

The context of the Bill is also very important. We are now seeing, perhaps not necessarily because people want to move towards a reduction in the total home ownership in the country, that more people in the State are moving towards a landlord-tenant arrangement which is more normal in Europe. There is certainly potential for people to have successful and long relationships with landlords. Of course, it is crucial it is voluntary rather than an economic necessity.

I compliment voluntary housing agencies on the work they do. I was a member of a local authority and sometimes it was difficult to deal with them and some of the procedures they undertook, but I would like to be more positive and focus on agencies such as Threshold, Clúid, Respond!, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Simon and the great work they do.

Although it is not specifically in the Bill, the Minister of State referred to the area of anti-social behaviour. There will be benefits to landlords with regard to non-payment of rent, and the Bill deals specifically with the relationship between a landlord and a tenant. However, it does not take into account the third parties who are the neighbours of rented accommodation. We need to strengthen the legislation with respect to how anti-social behaviour is treated. We need to shift the emphasis away from a point where a landlord is happy to take rent from a tenant who engages in anti-social behaviour. The voices of the neighbours and people living adjacent to these properties need to be heard in far greater volume. I know it has been mentioned and that the Minister of State intends to pursue it.

Cork Institute of Technology and University College Cork are in my constituency and many of the properties there are owned by landlords who live remote from the areas. I fully respect that families and people who wish to establish their homes need to be protected and that eviction would cause difficulty for them because they would need to find alternative accommodation. I am not so sympathetic when it comes to students who stay for only a number of months. I stress it is a tiny minority of students who engage in anti-social behaviour. However they can cause huge discomfort. The shortness of the term of their tenancy gives rise to an even greater sense that there will not be repercussions for their actions. I urge the Minister of State to continue on the path she is going. Every Member of the House and every local authority member in the country is aware that local authorities pursue a policy of not moving or transferring victims of anti-social behaviour but rather removing the problem. While some progress has been made, the reality is that the causes of anti-social behaviour remain in too many cases, which gives rise to a significant number of people requesting transfers. If we can address anti-social behaviour, it would reduce the desire of people to move.

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