Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

In éigeandáil mar seo, tá orainn oibriú go han-dian chun daoine leochaileacha a chosaint. We must do everything we can to protect those most vulnerable during this crisis, especially those who have been working in precarious conditions and renting precariously. Many people who have lost their jobs and income now face huge uncertainty in their rented accommodation. These workers often live paycheck to paycheck with little or no savings to cushion a sudden drop in income. This Bill will go some way to addressing their fears but not far enough. We have tabled several measures to strengthen it.

I have several concerns that are not adequately addressed in this legislation. First, the Bill makes no provision for people renting a room in licensed and owner-occupied accommodation. Those renting in a property owner's home are already in an extremely precarious situation and there are reports of evictions from owner-occupied accommodation with little or no notice given. This practice constitutes a significant public health risk, in respect of where these people will go and will also potentially place undue pressure on our homeless services. While the freeze on rent increases and evictions is helpful there is huge concern that potentially thousands of people will be evicted once these emergency measures come to an end, due to their inability to pay. People are asking why, if there can be a break in mortgage payments, can there not be a legal guarantee that this is passed on to tenants. We need stronger action to protect incomes and support renters to prevent a tsunami of evictions in about three months' time.

Significant changes are happening in the rental market, with an additional supply of short-term lets coming on-stream. There will be a decline in rents in the coming months as incomes drop, so it is in the interests of landlords to actively work to keep their tenants in situ. Given this changed context that is emerging in the rental market, it is important that the Department and local authorities do not get into any long-term commitments right now. It certainly would not be the right time to sign long-term, high-price HAP leases and 25-year enhanced leasing arrangements. We should wait for a number of months before signing new leases in that regard and look for prices to come down.

The policy of permitting co-living as a housing option, which has been heavily promoted by the Government and the Minister, must be reviewed in the context of the virus. Our housing policy must not seek to create new and additional cohorts of vulnerable renters at greater risk of infection from use of shared facilities.

I want to talk about people living in direct provision and about homeless people. When I spoke in the Dáil a few weeks ago, I said that we must take particular care to ensure that vulnerable groups such as homeless people and those living in direct provision are protected in this crisis. Some 17,000 people live in high-risk accommodation, sharing kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms. Some 6,000 of those are children. There were reports today of threats being made in one location against asylum seekers who are raising their concerns about Covid-19. This is not just about people and families living in direct provision centres. It is a risk to the entire community and the health services, and it needs to be urgently mitigated. Homeless people from one shelter had to write a letter to the papers this week to raise their concerns, and I want to quote from it. It reads:

Many of us believe that by now we must have been exposed to the virus, and it would be surprising if the authorities did not suspect this too.

Yet we circle the city with nothing to do and nowhere to stay, in all likelihood carrying the virus with us, spreading it as we go.

If, in the unlikely event that we haven’t been exposed, we surely will be if we’re forced to remain out of doors, involuntarily, for much longer.

Or, indeed, if we’re forced to return to shelters in which self-isolation is virtually impossible.

It is our understanding from how the virus is transmitted that if one of us becomes unwell, the chances are that all of us – living cheek by jowl – will become unwell too.

It continues:

Or are we to understand that the appalling selection process in practice in Italy, in which some patients are deprived of medical help in order to save the lives of others, has begun in Ireland already, with at least one group in Irish society effectively left to fend for itself?

The question is not as unfair as it might seem. To evict people during a deadly pandemic in a city of empty hotels is about as morally dubious as exporting food during a famine.

I appreciate that a lot of work has gone in to create space for self-isolation but I think that many of these efforts need to be moved forward as quickly as possible.

To conclude, I want to echo many comments made by previous speakers about the efforts that are needed to make sure that these protections are afforded to everyone in society, including members of the Traveller community. We must do everything that we can at this point to take decisive action to protect renters and those who are vulnerable.

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