Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise an important issue with the Minister, which is the decision of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, to continue processing adjudications on evictions and other cases without holding hearings. I have a letter from the RTB that says due to the Corona virus all cases will be handled as paper-based adjudication and there will be no physical hearing. There is no proposal for a virtual Zoom or Skype hearing or anything else. The RTB says very clearly that it will be a paper-based hearing, which will be the RTB adjudicator looking at the evidence as presented on paper by the landlord and by the tenant. There is no capacity to question or for a tenant to come in, a tenant who may not be very comfortable or confident when writing their case down but who could make a good case in person. There is no capacity for the adjudicator to investigate things by asking the landlord if something is accurate. These are things that, in my experience, have been absolutely essential in adjudicators making findings in favour of tenants. This is in direct contradiction to the RTB handbook that says the adjudicator will give both sides an opportunity to present their case and may ask questions. This creates extra stress and pressure on people who are already struggling to get by. Effectively, it may mean a fast-tracking of evictions when the coronavirus crisis is over and the moratorium on evictions has been lifted by cutting tenants' rights to a fair hearing. Does the Minister agree with this decision? If not, will the Minister ensure that it is reversed, that tenants can access their right to have a hearing and that we can put an end to this supposed paper-based adjudication process? I hope to ask a second question.

See this speech in context