Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The fact of the matter is that the Minister has not brought that in yet. All this is on top of the crosses that people are already carrying. It amounts to a crucifixion of people in the private rented sector. The multitude of problems that people have to deal with already is more than enough. We hear about it from them daily. I lived in private rented accommodation at different times in my life. Depending on who the landlord was, it was not so easy. People are vulnerable. The Minister knows and I know that as the demand for housing grows, the hand of the landlord is strengthened. That is a fact. The hand of the tenant is weakened and the tenant has few cards in his hand. In fact they are stripped bare. This will drive many tenants under and make it impossible for them to secure new accommodation. The problem arises in that gap between a tenant either surrendering a tenancy or the tenancy being ended by the landlord and the period when the unfortunate tenant is trying to move on to another tenancy. He will not have the deposit or the cash back. I see what many landlords are doing, although not all of them.

The Government promised another thing last year. This was discussed at length in the committee. The Government gave the impression that it would put in place some kind of mechanism to deal with deposit retention. That would be welcome and it is urgently needed.

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