Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

If there is one thing private tenants do not need, it is the Minister changing their leases to make them more vulnerable to being evicted. There are three steps he could have taken to make their position somewhat safer, but he never bothered with them.

A previous speaker raised the issue rent controls. I became a Member one year ago, but many before me had been asking the Minister - I am sorry for boring him - to introduce rent controls to try to stop the escalation in the level of homelessness. He is setting up a commission - the proverbial commission - to look into it. Meanwhile, the level of homelessness has increased by 800%. What has the Minister done? He has introduced a provision such as this to make private tenants even more vulnerable and insecure. We all know what he is doing; he is trying to drive up the payment figures for Irish Water. He is bringing in this law to try to frighten people and hopes the payment figures will go up by the time he releases the information, if ever.

I am sure the Minister must be aware from his civil servants that the number of private tenancies has escalated. Since he took office, the number has increased by 52%. In December 2013 there were approximately 450,000 private tenants. There are now almost 700,000 because the Minister is forcing an increasingly large number of people into the private rental sector. Therefore, the provision in the Bill is really important. I want to send a message to people who are privately renting that they should not worry or be bullied by what the Minister is introducing today. I will explain why. Owners of properties - landlords - must give information on who is occupying their homes to Irish Water. I was asked by somebody this afternoon whether the Minister could clarify the legalities regarding data and privacy, about which people are very concerned. I would really like an answer to that question. What I have said means that if owners do not provide the data, they will be liable for the charge. If they do provide them, they are not liable and the person named as the occupier becomes liable. That actually gives tenants the ability to take part in the mass boycott of the water charges, which is what my provisions are aimed at, without being put under severe pressure by landlords. Landlords must give the information to Irish Water, which means that they will no longer be liable. The charge is applied to the home of an owner, but if the owner can prove he or she is not liable, he or she does not have to pay. Therefore, tenants can say and should be able to say to the landlord that it is a matter between them and Irish Water. Unfortunately, as the Minister knows, some landlords are using whatever lame excuse they can to evict tenants. He needs to clarify today in a very serious way whether tenants will be evicted on these grounds as a result of the legislation he is shoving through on a Thursday before the summer recess without any serious Committee Stage debate taking place. It is important that he do so because I believe I heard him say in his initial speech that it was not the case. He has a duty, as Minister, to reassure tenants.

Tenants should not feel intimidated by this measure. They should say to their landlord that the question of whether they pay Irish Water is a matter between them and Irish Water and that it is none of the landlord's concern. The Minister agrees with this. I am glad that we are in agreement on at least something today, which is a first. What the Minister is trying to do is use this legislation to panic the living daylights out of people whom he knows are very vulnerable to get them to rush out and pay. People have contacted my office to say their landlord has already raised this issue with them. The measure cannot be invoked, as the Minister knows, because it is not now included in one's tenancy agreement. It will be, or can be, included in a new tenancy agreement. For most tenants, rents are rocketing and an Irish Water bill is the very last bill on their mind. In Dublin, in particular, rents have increased by €100 per week. In Cork, Galway and elsewhere they have also increased. Somebody said today that he or she did not know anything about what was occurring beyond the M50. In Galway city 38% of people are reliant on the private rental sector. In Cork the figure is 28% and in Dublin, 25%. If one adds to these figures the figures for council and housing association tenants, one will realise they, collectively, comprise a very significant section of the population. The much-heard cliché that it is in Irish DNA to own one's own home has been shattered since the Government came to power. It is not actually building homes or allowing people to gain access to credit from the banking system. Therefore, an increasing number must rely on private landlords. It is critical that we send the message that people should not be intimidated by this measure and that landlords should not be using it.

I would like the Minister to clarify whether the plan to steal from tenants' deposits which they should be getting back will be implemented before the summer. There are only a couple of weeks left, but, given the way things are going, the Minister will probably bring in a new set of Bills in a couple of days. Will it be invoked very soon?

One cannot be evicted for not paying water charges. If the Minister agrees, I would appreciate it if he could get this message out also. If people are worried, I implore them to consult an information leaflet that others and I have drafted. They can go to the Anti-Austerity Alliance, its Facebook page or website and get the leaflet. It is a leaflet for tenants arising from the Government's new water charges legislation. They should boycott the water charges until after the general election. It is really important that we have very high non-payment figures to persuade a future Government to abolish the odious Irish Water and also the water charges.

Given the increase in rent supplement and the Minister's steadfast refusal to introduce any legislation to allow people to gain access to increased rent supplement, for example, the introduction of a measure such as this is despicable. The Minister is adding to people's stress. When will the Government introduce "rent certainty", as the Minister called it, rather than rent controls? When will it introduce such measure?

The third thing that is needed in the private rental sector is an absolute end to repossessions by banks in order to sell houses on the open market. People should be allowed to stay in their properties and continue to rent them, rather than landing on the street, sleeping in cars and ending up in hotels, if they are "lucky", at huge cost to the taxpayer.

If the Minister is going to make it more likely that landlords will evict people for not paying water charges, would he at least consider asking NAMA to do something? NAMA owns 12% of the hotels in this country, none of which are in use for homeless people but could be used. Is that not something to which the Minister should turn his attention?

Amendment No. 21 makes it compulsory to register. Would the Minister recognise that by obliging people to register with Irish Water within 20 days of this Bill being passed, he is admitting defeat? He claims that 70% of people have registered but, of course, we have not been able to examine that figure because many of the people who have registered are not Irish Water customers as the Minister knows and as Irish Water has acknowledged. Even if that is the case and 70% of people registered after a bribe of €100 where the Government gave away free money to people to sign up, it did not really work. That awkward 30% who would not be bribed by the €100 so-called conservation measure, which does not have any conservation criteria attached to it in order to receive it, still exists. The only thing people have to do to receive the grant is to sign up with Irish Water so desperate is the Government to get people to do it. That did not work because that 30% of awkward people who are sick and tired of this Government and austerity and who say "No" to bribery still exists. The Government now has to bring in a law and statute that makes it compulsory for people to register within 20 days of the Bill being passed. Will the Minister admit that he could not get people to volunteer so he now has to force them? This is what this measure is an admission of.

I am beginning to wonder about the Minister's registration figures. Registration does not equal payment because we all know people may register for the €100 grant but it does not mean that they will pay the bills. People may register because their landlord has pressured them or have even registered them. That 30% cannot be forced to register so the Minister had to bring in a law today. In light of the circumstances in which he is doing so, bypassing Committee Stage, he should admit defeat, that he has not been able to persuade the 30% and that he must legally force them to register. Can the Minister clarify what the penalty for not registering is? That was not made very clear and is really important. Is it just a toothless law? The Minister is saying people must register but I am not clear what the penalty is if they do not register. Will we all be rounded up in dawn raids at 7 a.m. and whipped into Mountjoy Prison? What is the situation because people deserve to know that from this debate today?

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