Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 4, to delete lines 35 to 39 and substitute the following: "(i) specifies a termination notice that falls at any time during an emergency period, and

(ii) cites as reason for the termination any of the grounds listed in section 34 of the Act of 2004.",".

I know time is short and we want to vote on this and the issue in section 2. This is a specific amendment. Of course, the Minister did not respond to the point and I doubt he will but we will see. This seeks to extend the protections that the Bill would afford to other cohorts of tenants who have done nothing wrong and who should not be evicted in the midst of a pandemic. I have cited St. Helen's Court as a real human example. The vulture fund that owns St. Helen's Court also owns properties in Inchicore where it has been trying to evict people. It owns properties in Gardiner Street. Of course, vulture funds own many properties throughout the city and country. They are not the mom and pop landlords to which the Minister refers, and in any event whether they were or were not, these are people who have paid their rent and who are being evicted on grounds of sale or refurbishment.

Here is an irony for the Minister. The tenants in St. Helen's Court would have been better off if they did not pay the rent over recent months. Many of them are on the pandemic unemployment payment. Many of them are in receipt of the housing assistance payment. As they are good conscientious tenants, they pay their rent to a landlord that is trying to kick them out purely for money and the Minister refuses to protect them. The amendment asks the Minister, if he is serious about protecting tenants from unfair evictions and evictions that are not their fault in the midst of a pandemic, to please protect tenants such as these who, in this case, have a letter that states that as soon as the 5 km restriction is lifted they will be gone in ten days. Then they will be told by emergency services that they do not have council houses for them, that the housing assistance payment limit is too low to allow them to rent the property that is available in the area, which is €2,000 or €2,200, and that there is nothing for them but an address for a hostel in town where they can take themselves and their children. It is straightforward. If the Minister is serious about protecting these tenants will he please accept the amendment?

See this speech in context