Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I thank all of the Deputies for the lengthy debate and discussion we have had on this legislation and the proposals behind it up to this point, and we had a lot of discussion on Committee Stage as well. We are now on Report Stage and I hope we can conclude this quickly while also giving the due diligence we need to the amendments before us.

On this amendment, I gave a commitment to Deputy O'Sullivan on Committee Stage to look at this further. I am not against doing this. It is something we need to address in regard to a number of points around the issue of key money and the protection of deposits. Unfortunately, it is not something we have been able to progress in this legislation. It is no longer a priority area for the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, which reports on the priority areas that come before it.

In the committee session I gave a commitment to Deputy Darragh O'Brien that I would look again at the issue of the deposit retention scheme. In the next Bill we are bringing forward, the housing (residential tenancies) Bill, which will have pre-legislative scrutiny later this year, we will look at a series of issues around the deposit. Unfortunately, to accept this amendment on its own, as it is before us for this Bill, will not get to the issue at hand. While asking for two months' deposit is not the big issue that people might think it is, this amendment is also not addressing things like key money or other aspects around deposits or a deposit scheme. If someone wanted to charge a tenant extra money using a deposit, or something akin to a deposit, he or she could do it and this amendment would not protect the tenant in that way. While I acknowledge the merit of the amendment and its intention and while I believe we need to do something in this area, unfortunately, this amendment will not address it with the totality that is needed. That is why we will be proceeding with further legislation this year around the deposits that are charged and paid, how they are protected and what they are for.

See this speech in context