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

To come back to the serious aspect of the Deputy's question, I am very sorry to hear about the case he raised. I do not know the details of it but I am sure what he says is true. I am very sorry to hear about it but I also know that there are many good stories. Some 5,000 families were lifted out of homelessness and provided with secure tenancies in the last year. Some 18,000 families are now living in houses that did not exist a year ago. There are many good stories of people who are being lifted out of homelessness and people who are getting homes for the first time. As I mentioned earlier, 9,000 families were provided with new social housing last year.

Government is working hard on the issue of tenants' rights. We appreciate that the rights of tenants need to be enhanced. That is why we are being active in this area and legislation is going through this House and the Seanad. This will do a number of things to provide more secure tenancies for people who are renting, for example, by extending the notice to quit period. People who are asked to leave by their landlord will be given much more time to find somewhere else to live and rent. That is a big change which will be welcomed by most people. We are also enhancing the resources of the RTB to allow it to take enforcement action against rogue landlords where they mistreat tenants.

We have extended the rent pressure zones to other areas and to new tenancies. As a result of the rent pressure zones, hundreds of thousands of people have had no increase or an increase of less than 4% in their rents in the past year or two. We have also brought in strict criteria on refurbishment so that we do not have rogue landlords using refurbishment as an excuse to increase the rent. These important pieces of legislation and regulations are being introduced by the Government at the moment. I am disappointed that Deputy Barry's party cannot support them.

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