Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for making light of the comment, but it is a serious comment. We are having to deal with a rake of last-minute complex amendments dealing with a range of complex issues and then amendments to amendments. Whatever way one looks at it, it is not the way to deal with an issue of such importance. Added to that is the backroom or side-room dealing of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael where the whole thing is stitched up in effect outside this House in any event, making the debate that we are conducting here something of a charade. I make that comment in all seriousness.

We are covering such a wide area in this grouping of amendments, all dealing, broadly speaking, with the critical issue of rent certainty, rent control, rent affordability and rent pressure zones. In a way, all of these deserve separate and distinct debates rather than a single grouping. The length of the Minister's initial introduction and the range of issues covered in it, in itself, makes this not a proper debate. All of these need to be gone through forensically. There is an incredible amount of detail here.

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