Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I will discuss some of its provisions but also broader issues that will help in the delivery of jobs and rural development, which is a significant issue nationally and, more specifically, in the north west.

I commend Focus Ireland on its campaign that involved 40,000 e-mails being sent to Members on behalf of the 20 families who become homeless every month and the 15,000 households who have buy-to-let landlords in arrears of more than two years. I have responded personally to each and every person who has contacted me from every corner of my constituency and advised them, as I do now, that Fianna Fáil is tabling amendments to the Bill to enhance security of tenure and occupancy for tenants. These amendments will remove the ability of receivers to evict existing tenants from rented properties that have been repossessed. They also include a provision that where banks or vulture funds appoint receivers to rented properties, they should be required to take on all of the legal responsibilities of a landlord, including those relating to Part 4 tenancy obligations, maintaining the property and the obligation to return a tenant's deposit in full.

I welcome the new fast-track planning procedure, and any risks associated with it can be overcome if carefully managed. The rationale for the new planning procedure comes from the fact that at the current time the vast majority of large housing applications are appealed to An Bord Pleanála. Most often, the board upholds the local authority's decision.

Under the new procedure, developers who want to build developments comprising more than 100 units will be required to engage in an extensive preplanning consultation process with local authorities for the first time. This must be completed within a prescribed period of 16 weeks. It is important to note that this process will not impact on the ability of third parties or local authorities to raise objections or make appeals.

It is important to note that the proposed changes do not have an impact on the democratic role of councillors in setting local area development plans and county development plans. Any decision by An Bord Pleanála adheres to the objectives and zonings set out in those plans.

Local authorities will continue to be the primary decision-makers for planning permissions for developments of fewer than 100 units. Given the deficits in housing supply throughout the country and the persistence of historically low levels of construction activity, especially for multi-unit developments, we have to take any measures we can to help to get the market moving.

While we support the amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, some amendments are required to enhance security for tenants in the private rental market. The Bill does not deal with the serious issues raised by the Tyrrelstown case, in that receivers and lenders are not considered to be landlords under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. At the current time, lenders or receivers may seek to summarily evict a tenant without giving him or her notice as required under law. Our amendment removes the ability of lenders or receivers to summarily evict a tenant. It proposes on page 3, after line 27, to insert a new section to the effect that receivers appointed to mortgage properties and lenders who have initiated repossession proceedings are regarded the landlords in relation to existing tenancies and, where appointed, the receiver of the property shall be under the same tenancy obligations of landlords as specified in Part 2 of the Residential Tendencies Act 2004 and associated regulations. This amendment ensures that where a bank or vulture fund appoints a receiver to a rented property, it should be required to take on all the responsibilities of a landlord. Receivers would have the exact same obligations as landlords to existing tenants under Part 4 of the Residential Tenancies Act, such as provisions relating to the security of tenure, the maintenance and upkeep of the rented property and the obligation to return a tenant's deposit in full.

I refer to a matter I raised in the House in October with regard to an objection to a planning application to An Bord Pleanála made by An Taisce, a body that has received €6 million in State grants over the past five years.

Quite honestly, while it has a role to do what it does and to look after our national heritage, I do not think objecting to an application by an enterprise which currently employs 14 people and could employ a further ten is part of its function, particularly where the objection is on whether a road is suitable for extra traffic. I am disappointed by the situation. Nor am I saying anything here behind anyone's back. I have made my views very much known to the relevant people. I think it is disgraceful. The Minister of State is from a rural area. He knows what 14 jobs means to a rural area and he knows what 24 jobs could mean. That is what we have lost.

I am sorry to say that the board has since refused permission for this business to expand. In its decision notice it stated, "It is considered that the development proposed to be retained would interfere with the character of the landscape, and would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard." The decision notice further stated:

Provision is also made for supporting rural communities through facilitating sustainable activities or uses in rural areas. Section 4.1.4 of the development plan supports industry and enterprise locations in Sligo City and its satellite towns, as well as in key support towns and other settlements. Policy provision is also made in Section 4.1.4 for development that needs to locate near a natural resource, as well as in Section 4.2 in relation to rural development and enterprise policies, including specific provision for rural resource-based enterprise.

In my view, there is no more rural based an enterprise than a vegetable business.

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