Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Coppinger.

It was very revealing how, in the debate and at Leader's Questions earlier, the conflict of interest facing landlords in the Dáil exercised the establishment parties so much. Why is that? It is because it exposes not only the naked personal interest, but the class interest, which lies behind the Government's policies on the housing crisis, which are supported by Fianna Fáil. The answers of those who say it is ridiculous that we would call on landlord Deputies not to vote on this Bill are extremely revealing. They say it is the same as us voting on taxation as we are taxpayers. The defence behind which they hide is section 5(ii) of the code of conduct for Members of Dáil Éireann other than office holders. It states, "A conflict of interest does not exist where the Member or other person benefits only as a member of the general public or a broad class of persons." Therefore, the defence of those who say there is no conflict of interest which would exclude them from voting is that they are part of a broad class of persons, that is the landlord class. We agree. They are part of the landlord class. They represent the landlord class. Even those among the establishment parties who do not own properties represent the landlord class through the policies they pursue and the neoliberal ideology they defend.

It was exposed extremely well in the statement by the Minister, Deputy Murphy, earlier when he spoke about not interfering too much. He did not say exactly in what we were not meant to interfere too much but it was clear he was talking about not interfering with the capitalist market, the free market which allows wealth to flood upwards to the landlords, the bosses and the bankers rather than trickling down to ordinary people, as it is supposedly meant to. This free market has allowed rents in the property market to increase by 30% since this Government came to power and has allowed the amount of wealth going to landlords in this country annually to double in the past six or seven years.

This was added to a new idea, which I believe is also something to do with the free market. This is the idea that we are a young rental market and that we would like to be a mature rental market in which we can have all of these kinds of decent tenancy protections and rights but that we are on a journey to that mature rental sector, which will take a while, and that we cannot pre-empt it with any legislation which would give tenants significant rights. The Minister of State should tell the children living in 539 North Circular Road about the journey to a mature rental sector. He has a choice tomorrow to defend those children and to defend others facing eviction or to allow the market, the landlords and big corporate landlords in particular to continue to ride roughshod over their rights.

I have a termination notice here which sums up just how bad the crisis has got. It is a termination notice for 21 December, four days before Christmas, addressed to some people who are currently in transitional housing from homelessness in Tallaght Cross. Their 18 months of transitional housing is up and they are not able to find alternative accommodation. They have therefore formally been given notice to quit. It is a sign of how horrific the crisis is when homeless people are being evicted or threatened with eviction back into homelessness. The Minister has said that the notice will not be carried out and that they will not be evicted, but they are awaiting written confirmation from Túath and from the Government that this is the case and that they will not be evicted. They are organised and are prepared to resist any attempt at eviction. I met with a number of them on Monday. That is exactly what we need. We have to face the reality. There is no convincing the Government. One quarter of its members are landlords and they all represent the landlord class. They are not going to pass legislation which significantly interferes with landlords' right to profit. The only conclusion, therefore, is that we need a movement.

The Minister of State can see what is happening with the yellow vest protest in France, a revolt from below of the oppressed against the president of the rich, Macron, forcing him back and forcing concessions, some of them which have been given but which are inadequate and which are rightly seen by people as being crumbs. The movement continues and has the potential to force him out of office. We need a movement like the yellow vests here on the issue of housing, with young people and students to the fore. We have raised the idea of a national students' strike, occupations of campuses, and raising the struggle nationally on a higher plain. There is also the question of regional and national demonstrations in the new year and, crucially, the role of the trade unions and ICTU in putting their full weight behind those demonstrations, not only in mobilising people but in building for industrial action, perhaps starting with the idea of lunchtime action or half-day action and moving to a one-day general strike on the issue of housing to show the Government the power of working class people who want action on the housing crisis.

See this speech in context