Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I start by offering my deepest condolences to families who have lost loved ones to Covid-19. My thoughts are with all of those people who are sick or unwell, be they self-isolating or in hospital. Like other Deputies, I express my sincerest thanks not only to all of the outstanding health and emergency workers but to all of those other people, be they in the public service or private sector, who are keeping our economy and society moving - people like retail workers, delivery workers, taxi drivers, local authority staff and, of course, the front-line staff in the community and voluntary sectors.

As everybody here knows, tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs and many of those jobs are in hospitality, retail and services. They were on low or modest pay. A very significant number of these people are renters. For people who are paying their full rents, rents are due from next week and many people who are on HAP have top ups to the landlords that are due this week in many cases. There is a significant amount of worry and fear among this group of people about what the immediate future will hold. Some landlords are responding very responsibly for which I thank them but I am hearing reports, as I am sure are other Deputies, of landlords not responding in the spirit we would have expected.

While the measures in relation to housing and rents in this Bill are very welcome, my concern is they do not go far enough. One of the single biggest concerns, which Deputy Darragh O'Brien has raised, is what will happen at the other end of this crisis when renters will end up with a very significant rent arrears debt burden and the impact that will have on them, the rental sector and the economy overall. That is why we have been arguing in recent weeks, first, for an emergency rent supplement payment. I understand the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is looking at that, but we have yet to see a formal announcement of the nature of the scheme. Also, we are going to need to see a serious discussion around rent reductions and rent waivers, in particular in cases where landlords of tenants unable to pay their rent have been able to avail of mortgage moratoria for the period of the emergency. Sinn Féin has amendments on those issues. I urge the Minister, the Minister of State and the Department to work with Opposition spokespeople over the coming weeks to deal with some of these issues and deal with us in the same spirit that we are dealing with the Government on the primary legislation.

I welcome the prohibition on eviction notices and rent increases. This will, undoubtedly, take the immediate pressure off the private rental sector and that is a good thing. However, I am concerned that particular groups of people are not covered; people with licences, people in digs, and those in informal lodging arrangements, etc. If we are going to protect renters we need to protect all renters and not just those with formal tenancy agreements.

I am also concerned about some aspects of the community that is in emergency accommodation. I know significant work has been done by the Department, local authorities and the voluntary service providers but more needs to be done and there is a need for greater communication, in particular for those people in communal settings such as dormitory-style accommodation, to try to get them out of that accommodation as quickly as possible and into environments that are much safer. That is not just in emergency accommodation but, crucially, also for those in direct provision, which while I appreciate is not within the remit of the Department of the Minister of State but it still needs to be mentioned.

There is an enormous concern among the Traveller community, in particular where sites are either very overcrowded or do not have adequate facilities or in illegal sites. We need to hear some very clear signals from the Minister and, again, to communicate some of the positive work that has been happening behind to scenes but maybe to go a little bit further. If we are saying that nobody should be evicted over the period of this emergency, that means all sections of society, including the Traveller community. We need to get clarity on that.

I fully understand the need for both the planning regulations and the primary legislation in front of us but I have some concerns about the impact it will have on the ability of the wider public, third parties and advocacy groups to engage fully in the planning process. I will return to that, but also we have yet to hear what will happen with other licensing processes that have statutory timelines, be that licences granted by the Environmental Protection Agency, local authorities or other bodies where the same types of measures are going to be required. If the Minister could enlighten us on any of that I would be greatly appreciative.

This is a national emergency. It is a global emergency. It is a time for all of us to put party politics aside when dealing with these kinds of emergency measures. The Minister of State can rest assured we will work with him and his Department in the way we have on many other issues before in that spirit, but we need greater levels of support for workers, families and small and medium sized enterprises to ensure that while we deal with the immediacy of the crisis they do not end up with a very substantial debt burden on the other side with all of the negative consequences for them, the economy and society.

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