Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will correct the Deputy on one point. The Government is helping people to raise a deposit to buy their own home. Some 10,000 people have already benefited from the help-to-buy scheme by getting some of their taxes back to put towards a deposit and 10,000 is not a small number.

We are taking concrete action. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, yesterday announced reforms to extend the notice-to-quit periods. A renter who is asked to quit a property because it is being renovated, sold or a family member is moving back in will have much more time to find an alternative place to live and rent. That is a concrete action.

Sinn Féin's proposal is not a concrete action. We examined it and met with chief executive officers of NGOs about it. The problem is that the Sinn Féin proposal cannot apply retrospectively or to existing tenancies so it would not help one person who is currently renting or facing homelessness. It might, in fact, be counter-productive by discouraging people who are thinking about renting out a property from doing so. Somebody who has upgraded and bought a new home and is thinking about renting out their existing property might be discouraged from doing so were they to find out they would be unable to sell that property.

We are taking concrete action. What Sinn Féin is proposing cannot be retrospective and will not help anyone who is currently renting or facing homelessness. It might get Sinn Féin on the news but that it is all it will do.

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