Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with my colleague, Deputy Butler.

I thank the Minister of State for outlining the provisions of the Bill. I assure him that Fianna Fáil will work constructively to improve this legislation. We welcome many aspects of the rental package contained in the Bill but we believe that it needs to be strengthened further.

We need to protect renters. We need to secure the long-term viability of that sector. We need to prevent any additional homelessness but we also need to make sure that we look after those who are in emergency homeless accommodation.

We need to further strengthen protections for mortgage holders and we have put forward an amendment to do that.

I will briefly cover some of them. Oireachtas oversight is incredibly important and that is why I have an amendment down that any of these measures would come back to the Dáil and Seanad within 90 days to strengthen the Residential Tenancies Board role in this to make sure there is adherence to these measures, particularly with regard to forbearance to renters.

We must look at the issue of any accumulated debt during this crisis as well and I welcome amendments from others on that. I will be interested to look at it.

On business relief for employers, I want to make sure that there is protection for the business sector from unscrupulous landlords at a commercial level using non-payment of rent to trigger break clauses in leases. I have seen that already, unfortunately, with a couple of the commercial semi-State bodies, which are big employers in this area. That is not acceptable.

I refer to strengthening mortgage holders support.

I want to bring the non-banks into the legislation through legislation brought forward by Deputy Michael McGrath in 2018. I have tabled an amendment on that as well. We need to bring companies like Haven and Pepper under this legislation. As I said, we need to support renters and make sure that HAP top ups are dealt with. Fianna Fáil has amendments in this regard to make sure those who cannot pay those HAP top ups due to being made unemployed because of the Covid-19 crisis are dealt with. We then need to look into the future.

In the remaining 50 seconds of my contribution, like others, I pay particular tribute to all those on the front line who are working at an incredible level of commitment to our country and Republic. They deserve all the support they can get. We have our job to do in the Dáil and I believe that working together, we can strengthen the legislation to make things better for our people during this crisis. I acknowledge the work of our local authority staff across the country and all those on the front line, including our transport staff and those in the aviation sector who, hopefully, will continue to work to get Irish people home during this crisis. I have amendments tabled, for which I will argue on Committee Stage. They are put forward in a constructive way to try to make this legislation better. We support the thrust of this legislation and look forward to working constructively together to make this a good piece of legislation that will have a real and positive effect for our people.

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