Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Usually on Committee Stage, the Minister takes time to go through the amendment and explain it in detail. If the Minister wants me to take him at his word, I am baffled by the suggestion that this was a drafting error or an unintended consequence. Can he explain why he or his officials went to the bother of putting t/12 into the original amendment he proposed? It is not a dot somewhere or a loose word. It is a mathematical formula that is there for a reason. One can see some of the logic for it being there but that is why I believe that there are unintended consequences - they may be intended consequences - as a result of the new amendment the Minister has put forward. The latter is a lot simpler. There are no longer two definitions in respect of current tenancies for new tenants.

The new amendment allows us a new formula which is basically R x (1+0.04), which is the 4% increase where R is the amount of rent last set under the tenancy for the dwelling. What happens when a tenancy ends and a new person takes up a tenancy? This formula would, therefore, allow that person to apply a 4% increase. It could encourage landlords to put people out of their tenancies and take new people in. The previous amendment would have dealt with that, even though it was flawed. Why did the Minister deem it fit to propose an amendment which included the t/12 formula, which is far more complex than what we have before us, if he wants us to take him at his word that this was a drafting error and not an intended consequence on the part of the Government? The members of the Government all signed off on this amendment but no one spotted the problem. That speaks volumes for the Government.

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