Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

We were informed that for the end of March the numbers living in emergency accommodation had gone below the 10,000 mark for the first time in quite a long time. Apart from anything else, that does relieve pressure on local authorities and it shows the value of having a ban on evictions. There has been a crisis, however, in the private rental sector for a good while now. It is about to get a major new twist with the Covid crisis. There is the probability of a major spillover putting local authorities under more pressure, not just in terms of emergency accommodation, but in terms of demand for housing.

Recently the Irish Property Owners Association, a landlord organisation, corresponded with its members. Among the points it made, it stated rent is a contractual obligation and must be paid. It stated a deferment of rent still means that rent must be paid at a future date and that tenants will be in debt. The moratorium on rent increases and evictions runs until 27 June. Were it to be lifted on 27 June, in a short time we would see a spike in evictions. It would not just bring us back to the position that we had previously but could possibly far outstrip it, given the number of tenants who have fallen into rent arrears during the course of the Covid crisis.

From that point of view, the Government needs to extend the moratorium in question. I listened with interest to what the Minister said on this earlier.

He seemed to indicate that the thinking might be to extend it a bit in line with the reopening of the economy, but that would be completely inadequate. Such is the build-up of rent arrears that we will have a real crisis unless the moratorium is extended for a longer period. I would like it extended forever, but some housing campaigners are saying it should be extended into next year at a minimum, which I support. Unfortunately, we do not have statistics on rent arrears. However, we have a lot of anecdotal evidence, which indicates that they are piling up in a big way. Given the high level of rents, it is not realistic to expect people to continue to pay a high level when the crisis lifts and also pay back all the arrears. That points to the need for a scheme for writing off those rent arrears. I accept that some smaller landlords could be impacted significantly by that, but if we put a levy on the bigger landlords such as I-RES REIT and so on, there could be a pool of money there for the State to use, and if a small landlord was in that particular situation, he or she could apply for a refund from that fund and the tenant's rent arrears could be written off. Is the Department considering extending the moratorium and if so, is it considering 2021 as an option? Does the Minister of State accept that many tenants will never be able to pay back the arrears and that there is a need for a scheme to write off debt? What arrangements or preparations are being put in place to accommodate the extra demand for local authority housing that is inevitably going to arise in the next period?

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