Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, published its quarterly report on 2 October and within that are some of the facts that pertain to the positive effect within the market of the new protections and the new legislation the Government brought forward. As a result of the legislation we are now able to track the number of 28-day warning letters for rent arrears issued. We were not able to track that previously but it is now in law. We can do it because once a warning letter is issued the landlord must copy it to the RTB. There used to be a 14-day notice. We changed it to 28 days in the legislation that others in the Chamber opposed. Some 844 warning letters were issued. Some 182 notices of termination were issued but of those 182, 174 self-declarations were made also. The numbers with regard to homelessness in June, July and August indicate that there has been a stabilisation. I want to see it reduced further. We have got to operate on a primary legislative footing. The primary legislation we have in place is a much sounder footing on which to be able to build. I will come back in when the Deputy has asked his supplementary question.

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