Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I missed most of this debate and was late for it because I was dealing with two families in Ballyfermot, both of whom received notice to quit their tenancy and are extraordinarily stressed out. As it happens, both families have a special needs child and the stress and uncertainty for their children are the main cause of their stress, with the pressure it puts on the needs of those children. In both cases the landlords had issued notices without proper regulation and were forced to withdraw them and this is just one small story in one small area of this country.

I do not know if every Deputy who defends the Government's housing strategy really believe their own words when they say the only way to solve the housing crisis is through the market. Maybe they cannot admit that the threat of eviction and insecurity that families face daily is a real one. As we speak now, people are going to bed in fear of the future for their children. It is easy for those of us who have a permanent home and are fortunate enough not to have to face that uncertainty but we need to acknowledge that this is a demon hanging over many families every day.

I am very proud to be associated with this Bill which puts down another marker after Apollo House and the Minister being forced to bring in some sort of rent control just before Christmas. It shows that this country is changing and that we are not willing to put up with the continuation of the crisis, the legacy of recession and austerity and the consequences of the bank bailout on ordinary people. Regardless of whether this Bill passes, the Government will have to recognise that there is a new force in this country, a new movement, a new awareness and a new determination that the priorities of this and previous Governments of Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and Fine Gael and the establishment of this country will now be challenged and will continue to be challenged. We cannot take it for granted that the idea that the market will resolve the crisis is correct. It certainly will not and it is worsening the crisis. To look at the supply of housing needed in this country and what is happening in local authorities is totally dismal. The Minister boasts that the opening up of voids is happening and that they are turning around much more quickly, with houses not lying empty as long as they used to, but a day is too long, as is a week. Many issues in the housing crisis have to be challenged but the ability of landlords to issue notices to quit and to evict is fundamental and urgent.

The Bill is to be welcomed and we should get it out of our heads once and for all that the rights of private property are sacrosanct over the rights of families to a decent, comfortable and secure. There is such a thing as the common good and the Constitution states that the common good can override the rights to private property. All the details in the Bill points in that direction. I welcome the Bill despite what the Government may say about the need not to interfere with private property. There is a need and there is a need to move away from the ideological commitment to the market as the solution. The market is the problem, it is not the solution.

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