Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

We were required to have it in last Wednesday and we did that.

I have to say I am somewhat concerned and I wonder about the memory of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. This morning, I heard him having a right swipe at me on "Morning Ireland". He referred to hypocrisy. He said our party never tabled amendments on the rent reform Bill earlier this year. What is wrong with the Minister's memory? In January 2018, it was the Social Democrats that introduced the residential tenancies Bill. At that stage, the Minister thanked Deputy Catherine Murphy and I for bringing forward the Bill. He acknowledged the substance of the Bill and its genuine motivation to improve the situation for tenants at a time of undersupply in the residential sector. Does the Minister not remember that?

The Minister undertook to introduce legislation to do what our Bill would do. We had to wait a year for him to do it because it was a full year before he introduced the Government Bill to do what we had proposed a year earlier. The Minister said we did not propose amendments. Does he not remember us having a conversation across the floor of the housing committee on how we might improve his legislation? Does he not remember that when his Bill was brought to the floor of the House several of us signed an all-party Focus Ireland amendment to improve the legislation the Minister had introduced? Unfortunately, he had watered down the Social Democrats' Bill from a year earlier. Does the Minister not remember all of this? He should try to jog his memory because he owes us an apology.

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