Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I listened to the Minster's opening statement. Couched in the language of helping tenants, in reality he is launching a massive attack on renters and tenants. I do not know if he understands the fear and insecurity in the hearts of many families as the eviction ban is lifted from 10 August. We believe this will open the floodgates for evictions.

The language in the Bill makes it clear that the Government's chief concern is explaining that the measure is temporary and in response to an emergency but that the rights of private landlords must be protected at all times, and that this is only because of Covid-19 and for a short period. It does not seem to understand the public health threat that exists. What I picked up from the Minister's contribution was almost a smell of fear that the Government was daring to interfere with landlords' rights, and that it could not wait to effect an emergency measure that will not protect as many people as is claimed but, rather, only a minority of tenants.

The Labour Party seems to think that the Government is making a mistake. This is not a mistake. The Government's priority is to get back to normal and look after its own class. The landlord parties of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with the Green Party again acting as a mudguard, are looking after their own. I appeal to journalists out there to carry out the research and find out how many landlords are Members of the current Dáil, like they did during the lifetime of the previous Dáil.

From 10 August, landlords will be able evict away for reasons of renovation, change of use, wanting to use the home for a relative and, chiefly, the sale of the property. Despite this, our Library and Research Service, Threshold, the Simon Communities and so on have shown that the main reason for evictions is not rent arrears but instead all of what I have just mentioned. The Bill shows us we are not all in this together, by any manner or means. Any Deputy who is a landlord - I make this as a public call - should abstain from the vote. Just as Deputy Boyd Barrett pointed out that the advice given to the Government by the Attorney General reflected a vested interest, any Deputy who is a landlord has a vested interest in voting for the Bill. Such Deputies should abstain and absent themselves from the House. It is inconceivable that they would allow what would be a tsunami of evictions to take place after 10 August.

We are still in the middle of a pandemic, and the protection proposed in the amendment we have put to strengthen the Bill should still apply to those in rental rooms and casual licensees, such as the Travelling community in particular. If arrears are not the main issue in the context of evictions, why is that the only issue being addressed in the Bill? It is because the Government cannot wait to give the landlords and vulture funds the freedom they need. It is just kicking the can down the road to January, even in respect of those in arrears. The Bill assumes that people could do better by budgeting differently, so the Government refers them to MABS, etc. It is a total insult. No account is taken of the permanent loss of income that many people will suffer.

We are back to normal, back to rent increases and people not being able to access rental accommodation because rents are too high. As the kids return to school and the threat to public health remains, the Government is putting many families into a very fearful and unpredictable future. The Bill is splitting the heads of people and giving them plasters for their fingers. That is exactly what the Government is doing to renters and people who rely on private tenancies.

I will probably make a pre-recorded message of the following and have to replay it time and again. I appeal to the Green Party not to vote for the Bill. It is not why people voted for them and it is not the sort of change they were elected on the promise of.

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