Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 4, line 6, after "regulations" to insert the following: ", including restrictions on the number or type of persons who can enter a dwelling, in order to limit the spread of Covid-19 or".

As I said at the outset, one of the weaknesses of the Bill is that the eviction ban is limited in its applicability to the triggering of the 5 km travel restriction by the Minister for Health. This means we could have a situation where we are in a level 4 plus lockdown and there could, for public health reasons, be a heightened restriction, for instance, on visitations to one's home. However, because we are not in level 5 and the 5 km travel restriction is not triggered, there would be no consequent ban on evictions. Where a person receives a notice to quit and the landlord starts organising viewings, if the latter is an accidental landlord or an estate agent operating at the lower end of the market who does not have the facilities for online viewing, there could be multiple strangers viewing the property in which that person and his or her family members are living, one of whom could have an underlying condition. In addition, if one receives a notice to quit at level 4 plus on the Covid scale, one will have to go out and view properties. We have all seen the images of queues of people - often young couples or families - waiting to view a rental. That makes no sense.

Amendment No. 5 deals with county lockdowns. We could have a situation at some point in the future where the 5 km restriction is not in place but there are individual county lockdowns. When we raised this issue with the officials, we were told that, in such instances, people can move freely within their county. The problem is that rental markets do not follow county boundaries. For example, a person living in west Dublin and searching for a new rental is as likely to look in the adjoining commuter belt markets of counties Meath, Kildare and north Wicklow as he or she is to look in other parts of County Dublin. Likewise, a person renting in Ferrybank in south County Kilkenny is as likely, if not more likely, to look for a new rental in County Waterford as to look for something new in Kilkenny. The problem with the legislation is that because it sets such a high bar regarding public health advice, it will lead to difficulties when level 4 plus restrictions apply in the future.

Amendment No. 13 proposes the insertion in the Title of the prevention of homelessness as a key objective of the legislation. The Bill is not just about limiting the movement of people and, therefore, the spread of Covid. It must also be about reducing the risks arising from becoming homeless, particularly for very vulnerable groups. One such risk is the greater likelihood of contracting the virus in congregated emergency accommodation settings.

These are some of the examples of the weaknesses of this Bill, which, as I said at the outset, we are nevertheless supporting. Those weaknesses are the reason I will be pressing all three amendments.

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