Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the chance to talk about this Bill. I congratulate the Minister and look forward to working with him. Knowing the approachable kind of man he is, we are at least going to be able to consult him and he will listen to us. The most important thing is that he listens to the voices of Deputies when we are relating the concerns of the constituents we represent.

I welcome the extension of time provided for in the Bill. I must also declare that I am a connected person. I do not rent properties myself but I am connected to a man who is renting houses. On a point that was brought up earlier, I would be very concerned if this Bill in any way allowed vulture funds to evict people out of their houses. I hope there is nothing in the Bill to facilitate those kinds of people. Security of tenure is most important to tenants. In these troubled times when people cannot pay their way, pay all the bills and make ends meet because of losing jobs due to the dreadful virus we are still enduring, we have to extend the time. We have to protect the good tenants and the good landlords. If we do not protect the landlords, we are going to have greater demand on fewer houses. I know that many landlords are pulling out now. The one thing they keep mentioning to me is the cost of the tax. If they get €1,000 a month for a house, they have to pay back €500 in tax. That is a serious matter. If the Government could do something with the tax take it is getting from landlords, we could help to reduce the price of the houses for the tenants.

Availability of houses in places like Killarney, Kenmare and Dingle in Kerry is scarce at present. The local authorities for one reason or another are building a few houses now but it is not really enough. We would have more council houses only there are so many voids and they do not have funding to repair them. Before, we used to have the tenant purchase scheme. When tenants got on their feet and had the funding or could go the route of buying the house, the council got that money and used it to repair vacant houses so that people could be put into them or they could be rented to people who were on the list. I appeal to the Minister to bring forward the tenant purchase scheme to allow county councils acquire the funding to make voids fit to live in again.

The housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme is not appealing to many landlords. It is the option that the local authority gives so many tenants. Families with three and four children have nowhere else to go. The HAP scheme is just a hames. The tenant has to pay so much to the landlord and so much to the local authority. Then the local authority has to pay the landlord. It is such a rigmarole it takes three or four months to get a family housed. I appeal to the Minister to get rid of that scheme and bring forward an ordinary long-term lease or even a short-term lease if a landlord will only rent a property for a couple of years. I will talk more when I get another opportunity because there are certain things that can be done. I will be in discussion with the Minister practically every day.

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