Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to Deputy Boyd Barrett. I forgot my time limit and I was not able to answer some of the points he made about Brian, Anthony and others. I ask the Deputy to contact me offline if he could. That has worked before in the past.

I shall now turn to Deputy Murphy's points about the RTB. Because of what is happening during this emergency period there has been a big decrease in the number of cases the RTB has had to handle. Essentially, we have been able to protect people in their homes due to a decision this Oireachtas made around freezing of notices to quit and a freeze on rents. The RTB can still continue to do its work but it must do so in a way it believes is safe for its staff. When we communicated the new laws to the RTB, and when I spoke to them, it was very much on the understanding that they had to take into account that we are in an emergency period, that we are all trying to deal with a pandemic and to act accordingly.

I am not aware of any increase in the number of notices to quit being served over this period. The freeze is in place until the end of June and may be extended. At a certain point, the RTB will be able to go back to the previous, normal way of working, as we hope would most offices or other places where there has to be some sort of a public hearing or engagement with the public. I do not think we should suppose that as the rest of life gets back to some degree of normality or whatever the new norm is, the RTB will not too. The freeze is in place, it is protecting people, and it may be extended.

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