Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have previously advocated the provisions that are proposed in this Bill, such as linking rents with the consumer price index, providing greater security of tenure, making Part 4 tenancies of indefinite duration and removing the sale of a property as a ground for terminating a tenancy. Such a system is already commonplace across Europe. Ireland is one of the few European countries in which the mention of a sale by a landlord can result in vacant possession. We are unlikely to see much improvement in the rent security situation when the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government publishes his strategy for the rental sector in the coming weeks.

Any measures that are introduced now will be too late for the 6,525 people who are officially homeless in Ireland. If the Government is to prevent any acceleration in homelessness, it needs to do things it has consistently rejected and refused to do. For example, it needs to intervene in the market. Fine Gael continues to use the age-old excuse that it could not possibly support measures like those proposed in the Bill before the House because such an intervention would have a negative impact on existing and future supply of rental accommodation and would have potential legal and constitutional implications that require careful consideration. In this Dáil, Fine Gael has sided with the property and mortgage industry and left itself open to persuasion by those engaged in a concerted lobbying effort who imply that measures supporting rent certainty and security of tenure are fantastical, ludicrous, economically disastrous, left-wing and radical. Leading bodies like the OECD and the NESC have demonstrated that these proposals have a strong economic justification. A recent OECD study demonstrated that properly constructed rent regulation could result in a revival of the private rented sector.

There will be a spike in homelessness in January because landlords do not tend to turf people out just before Christmas. At a time when more children than ever before are homeless, it would be ludicrous if we were to stand idly by, knowing that the inevitable will happen, and watch as the number of homeless children and families increases in the new year.

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