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

With all-party support, the Government is bringing forward important reforms for the rental sector. Rent pressure zones will now apply to 2021. We are changing the qualifying criteria, where areas that do not currently qualify for rent caps will now be subject to them, as we receive data from the Residential Tenancies Board. For the first time in law, we will include large, institutional landlords in those rent cap regulations, which is an important improvement to ensure that tenants are treated the same irrespective of their landlord.

Other points about landlords and evictions were raised. I have met non-governmental organisations on numerous occasions, as has the Taoiseach, and they ask why landlords are allowed to evict tenants because they are selling the property. If we changed the law and told landlords they must keep the tenants in place when the property is sold, what about the person who buys the property? For example, it could be a young couple or family who must then evict the tenants because they want to move into the home they have bought. Families evicting families will not solve the problem but rather will move it to someone else who is not a professional landlord.

On vacancy, 42 sites that were previously vacant and on the vacant site levy are under construction. I told every local authority to form a vacant house strategy and team, and all 31 local authorities have reported back on that work. The council may have told Deputy Breathnach that it does not have a vacancy officer but it is the council's responsibility to put one in place.

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