Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In reacting to Covid, the important thing is for people to be able to remain in their houses. As the Deputy knows, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government introduced protections through the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 which became law on 1 August. That includes protections for tenants facing rent arrears and as a result are at risk of losing their tenancy. My Department's focus has been to support people to ensure that during these difficult times they receive sufficient income to allow them to pay their rent and remain in their premises. That was rightly the overriding concern. Naturally people who lost their jobs were very concerned about how they might pay their rent. We were able to give them the flexibility they needed by providing them with the income support to ensure they could pay their rent and not have a big legacy bill which nobody wants them to have.

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