Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When I came back into the Dáil and took on the responsibility of speaking on housing matters for our spokesperson, Senator Rebecca Moynihan, I felt like I was walking into a dressing room where everybody knew each other for years and I just had to get to know the dynamics.

I have other responsibilities in this Oireachtas in terms of education, enterprise and trade but I am taken aback because, as Deputy Ó Broin said, tomorrow we break up for Christmas and we have to deal with this extensive piece of legislation which is so crucial to so many lives. As the Minister is aware, we had a debate only last night on the causes of homelessness. It appears to me from speaking to Senator Moynihan that two Bills have been wedged together: a residential tenancies Bill has been wedged into a planning and development Bill in order to deal with two issues at the one time.

The Minister has decided not to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny. Without that, I agree with my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, that our ability to provide the type of scrutiny that is needed for these far-reaching measures that are incredibly important to the daily lives of citizens has been curtailed. I can hear the Minister's voice as an Opposition spokesperson in previous years.

If he was still the Opposition spokesperson for his party and a Minister walked in and tried to do this the week before Christmas, I am quite sure the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, would say the very same thing - that it is too much in too short a time.

The people who need this Bill are so vulnerable that we must do this right. We have put down amendments in good faith around a sunset clause etc. and the onerous process. Is it the intention of the Minister or the knee-jerk intention of departmental officials for this to be overly onerous on the tenant at all times? We will speak to this on various different amendments as we go through the evening.

The Minister has done many things since taking office that we have been quite pleased with. He has engaged with my party in a constructive way with the rent-to-buy scheme that I have raised with the Minister and we hope to get some progress on that. He took that on board as something he could work with. We applauded the Minister's move on co-living arrangements, and I made a statement on that a number of weeks ago. Last night he made a contribution in not opposing the Bill from the Opposition; that was also constructive. Many of the initiatives he has taken appear to be getting somewhere, and all of us want that.

This is crucial for the people who sent us here. It really feels that at this hour and this date, we are not doing the matter justice with the manner in which it is being presented to us. We have our amendments and we will try to work with the Minister on them and improve the Bill as we go through it. In saying that, I must contend that the manner in which this is being done is less than satisfactory.

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