Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak briefly on the Bill. The Minister said it is a technical measure relating to the outcome of a Court of Appeal ruling in Permanent TSB plc v. Langan. There is much public concern about the implications of this Bill. While the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2013 gave the Circuit Court jurisdiction over repossession cases involving principal private residences, the detail of this case relates to what has been described as domestic premises where people who had buy-to-let mortgages were in default and a lender was seeking to repossess the premises.

The significant problem is that there are tenants in those buy-to-let premises. This is a huge area of concern. There is no need to tell the Minister that if these cases can be processed more quickly through the Circuit Court and lead to repossession, the first thing the bank will seek is vacant possession of the property. This will add to the crisis we already have with housing and homelessness across the State. The matter must be addressed and perhaps the Bill offers an opportunity to do so. While the Bill clears up the jurisdiction issues and makes the process a little easier for banks, we must consider the families and tenants who will be affected by this. If the repossessions proceed more quickly and lead to people being evicted from the properties, it is every bit as significant for people to lose a rental property and end up homeless as it is for people to lose their family home and end up homeless. The Minister should use the opportunity of Committee Stage to consider drafting amendments to the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act or other Acts to allow for the protection of tenants in these properties as well. Surely it would be in the interest of the lender who gains possession of these properties to maintain a tenancy and benefit from the rent that the tenants were paying to the previous landlord. That would be in the interest of everybody in society.

Under the confidence and supply agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael measures are supposed to be introduced to achieve the result of protecting people in tenancies and allowing them to keep the roof over their heads. The Government should aim to ensure that this can take place, rather than just facilitating the courts and making it easier for the owners of the loans to gain possession. I ask the Minister to address that and to outline how we can take steps to ensure that, as a result of this Bill being passed, nobody will be made homeless, thereby adding to the number of homeless people and those sleeping in hostels and hotels, which is a disgraceful situation that appears to get increasingly worse. At least we could do something positive through this Bill to prevent that happening in the future.

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