Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about ensuring that those acting on behalf of the banks, vulture funds and other financial institutions are tightly controlled and cannot do as they please when taking property back from those who find themselves in financial trouble. While this is welcome, I have to point out that we are dealing with ensuring there is control of these private security firm workers and not the financial industry that benefits, no matter what happens.

It is worth noting that the very people who find themselves in financial trouble may well have had to contend with the loose controls enjoyed by the financial industry before they ever parted with their money or sought a loan. Those may be the people who were forced to bid well above the asking price for the property because of the ability given to vulture funds to inflate house prices, increase rents and give people little choice but to put themselves under undue financial pressure. They may be the people who, before they acquired their homes, had to deal with damp and overpriced housing that was not fit for them or their children. Those are the people who have finally found somewhere they thought was secure but they are also the people who, like many in my constituency, received the awful news that they must leave their homes and sign up to our infamous housing waiting lists.

While the measures in this Bill are needed, what is really required is action that prevents vulture funds or the privileged from hiking house prices and causing soaring rents. We need a housing policy that takes the sense of hopelessness away from those on our long local authority housing lists. Without this we will continue to have young families being terrified that they will have nowhere else to go or having to settle for substandard accommodation for them and their children. While I support this Bill, we must ask why the Government will not at the same time deal with the challenges faced by families up and down the country when it comes to finding a home. It is worth noting that we are discussing this Bill at a pivotal time. When this pandemic eases, there is no doubt but that the extent of the debt and mortgage arrears people have been forced into will be exposed. These people will need protection. That is why we are discussing the regulation of those working with the enforcement agencies.

Following the incidents in Strokestown, County Roscommon and on North Frederick Street, Dublin, Sinn Féin's Deputy Ó Laoghaire pointed to the shortcomings in the regulation of security companies and tried to get the then Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, to address it. Unfortunately, the former Minister was slow in dealing with this and therefore Deputies Ó Laoghaire and Martin Kenny introduced the Regulation of Private Security Firms Bill 2019, which sought to regulate private security companies engaging in the enforcement of court orders, including in the repossession of properties. The Government supported this Bill in November of 2019 on the basis that the Government's Bill would progress without delay. Here we are 18 months later finally discussing it.

We must remember that every time people lose their homes, whether those homes are purchased or rented, their futures are uncertain. They may have families to look after or health concerns to deal with. They do not need the indignity of heavy-handed techniques being used against them. They need some certainty that their needs will not be forgotten by the State and that they will not end up homeless or living in unsuitable accommodation. We must ensure that our people are protected in getting suitable accommodation, not just in being removed from it.

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