Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé cinnte go bhfuil do dhícheall á dhéanamh agat. Yesterday, I raised with the Taoiseach the Government's ill-thought-out proposals on the rental sector. I focused on two elements, namely, the absence of rent certainty and the Government's failure to deal with the difficulties - or even acknowledge the difficulties - faced by families in rented accommodation outside of the cities of Dublin and Cork. I did so because these are the two big failures with the Government's proposals but also because, like other Deputies, we did not have any sight of its propositions. That is the way the Government does business. The media was briefed and the document, complete with glossy brochure and all the other PR accoutrements, was launched outside the Dáil Chamber. This Government has produced more reports and press releases on housing and homelessness than it has built homes - that is the record of the Government. Deputies, who actually have the responsibility to vote on these measures, were kept in the dark about the detail. Now, contrary to the Taoiseach's protestations, he is rushing it through.

Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin, tabled 90 amendments on Committee Stage, including one on rent certainty. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael voted it down once again. We have tabled more substantive amendments today but the Government does not want any of them. All the bad old practices that marked the Government's previous term are being carried through into this term. The Taoiseach cannot even rely on Fianna Fáil on this one, or maybe he can. Part of Fianna Fáil's play-acting at being an Opposition party - the party of verbalised republicanism, the party which caused the crisis - is that every so often it has to engage in a sham fight with the Government. All the while, the 700,000 citizens in the private rented sector are being fleeced.

When we first brought these issues of homelessness, families in mortgage distress, the absence of social housing and the exploitation of families in the private sector to the Taoiseach's attention three or four years ago, he refused to act. He said it is clear that "interference in the market ... is not something we should do. While people are calling for what they call clarity on rent certainty, if we interfere in the wrong way, we will make matters worse." In fairness, the Government has interfered in the market - that is what it did yesterday. It has not quite abandoned its ideological position but it has set aside the principle in an inadequate way which, to use the Taoiseach's own words, has made matters worse. The people it has made matters worse for are the 700,000 citizens in that sector. They cannot afford the thousands of euro the Government proposals demand of them. I appeal to the Taoiseach to do the right thing, the proper thing, namely, introduce rent certainty, not rent punishment, and link rent increases to the consumer price index. That is the only solution that will adequately tackle this crisis.

Críocnaigh mé é ar an uair a chuir tú amach.

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