Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputies that I am keen to listen to their views and to take as many of them on board as is possible. It is about coming up with good ideas, unlike the last contribution which sought to categorised individuals. Whichever political party Deputies are members of, I know most of them try to do their best. I am certainly not a landlord. I have a small three-bedroom semi-detached house in Mullingar with my family. Contributions like that are unhelpful to this debate and are most frustrating. We meet these very vulnerable people every day of the week in our clinics and try to assist them. We should have a more constructive argument rather than using bland old one-liners that keep coming out.

I thank all the Deputies for their contributions and I will do my best to respond to each issue that has been raised. Having listened to colleagues, it is clear that we share a common purpose in seeking to secure tenancies for people impacted by Covid-19 and enhance their tenancy protections. In my conclusion, I again thank members of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for enabling the Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021 to be read a Second Time here today. I understand and appreciate that the committee is diligent in carrying out its pre-legislative scrutiny of Bills and that it had wished to scrutinise this Bill in the usual manner. Unfortunately, the urgency that applied to the publication of this Bill did not afford the time required for the committee to formally scrutinise the text of the Bill prior to its publication. I hope that the briefing provided to the committee by my officials in advance of the Bill's publication served to mitigate the waiving of the formal pre-legislative process.

I am very grateful to the committee for approving the waiving of the pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill. It was the correct decision. Without the waiver, it would not be possible to ensure the enhanced tenancy protections would continue to be in operation without interruption beyond 12 July 2021. In addition to this, the permanent amendments proposed relating to advanced rent payments and deposits can now be introduced in advance of the forthcoming academic term and, consequentially, will make things easier for students returning to on-campus education. Students will have the certainty under restrictions on amounts that they can legally be required to pay their student accommodation provider to secure a tenancy or licence. This will be important particularly during the pandemic and in light of the difficulty some students have endured in seeking refunds of large advance rental payments. Generally, these measures will help all tenants into the future. The measures aim to help tenants with affordability constraints.

We will debate this in detail on Committee Stage, but I note some amendments have been tabled proposing that a deposit be defined. I appreciate the concern in this regard but providing a legal definition for a deposit might actually give rise to unintended consequences. It is considers safer for the current understanding of a deposit in the market to prevail and to provide the RTB with discretion in determining any related disputes in this regard. The RTB will also be empowered to sanction any improper conduct by a landlord, in this regard, at the potential cost of €30,000 to the landlord.

The early publication of the Bill has afforded Deputies the time to submit amendments for debate on Committee Stage. The issues in question are very familiar to us. When the Government extended protections under the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act 2020 in March, for tenants with rent arrears on foot of Covid-19 and at risk of losing their tenancy, we expected those protections would not be needed beyond 12 July. However, circumstances have changed. The unpredictable manner of Covid-19, coupled with the risks associated with variants of concern, have proven that we, as legislators, must be flexible and quick to react to ensure tenancies are secured, while respecting the constitutionally protected property rights of landlords.

The Government is acting in unison to suppress the spread of Covid-19 and to mitigate its impacts on people. The success of the vaccination programme and of the sustained adherence to public health advice in combating Covid-19 will inform any future decisions taken in the context of the rental sector. The protections contained in the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act safeguard the most vulnerable tenants from eviction and rent increases during the emergency period, ending on 12 July 2021. This Bill pushes that expiry date out until 12 January 2022. That is one of the key purposes of the Bill. Our goal is to protect tenants during Covid-19. Our goal since last March has been that every tenant, and his or her landlord, is afforded the right to be protected as well. As this is a six-month extension of the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act, I ask the House to support this protection.

The Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act introduced similar temporary tenancy protections to those protection under the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020.

The Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act covers the period from 11 January 2021 to 12 July 2021, while recognising the constitutionally protected property rights of landlords. The ongoing threat from Covid-19 necessitated the enactment of the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act on 19 December 2020. We need to recognise through this Bill that Covid-19 continues to present serious public health risks and related economic risks. Extending the enhanced protections for our most vulnerable tenants for a further six months, until 12 January 2022, will provide certainty for tenants and landlords.

When we introduced the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020, a number of Opposition Deputies declared there would be a deluge of evictions and tenants would be put out of their homes and on to the street. This has not been borne out. There were 475 declarations served by tenants and 44 by landlords between last August and the end of May of this year to gain enhanced tenancy protection. During the same period, 3,810 warning letters were issued for rent arrears. While 1,122 notices of terminations were served grounded in rent arrears, in the context of approximately 300,000 private tenancies, that number is relatively low. It is worth noting that a notice of termination does not always result in an eviction. For example, a landlord could serve the notice as a warning mechanism to get a tenant to meet his or her obligations.

I reiterate and underline that while the numbers directly invoking this protection have been small, it has provided a strong safety net to vulnerable renters and sends a clear signal to the rental system that the State will protect tenants. In this context, and because of strong direct financial support, we have prevented turmoil in the rental system. Sustaining a secure tenancy is important. Rent needs to be paid to secure accommodation and can be paid with State support, if needed. The State will help people in their homes and I encourage tenants to reach out if they need such help. A range of State supports are available to help tenants to sustain their tenancy and fulfil their legal obligation to pay rent. The Department of Social Protection, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service and the Residential Tenancies Board are doing their utmost to support citizens. Rent supplement is a key short-term income support to eligible persons living in private rental accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. My colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, recently provided a detailed account of the range of income and other supports extended to hundreds of thousands of people since the start of the pandemic. During an unprecedented 12 months, the Department provided €11.5 billion in weekly payments and other supports introduced to assist people impacted by Covid-19.

Research by the ESRI and, more recently, the Central Statistics Office and the Central Bank indicates the gross median income of Irish households would have fallen by almost 20% in the second quarter of 2020 without the intervention of Government supports such as the pandemic unemployment payment, the temporary wage subsidy scheme and the enhanced wage subsidy scheme. In practice, income supports cushioned the income effect and were particularly effective for low-income households. The Department of Social Protection's analysis late last year, similarly to that of the ESRI, indicates that for most households in the lower 40% of income distribution, the income supports came close to fully cushioning the income losses due to Covid-19 and related employment lay-offs.

I thank the Union of Students in Ireland for its engagement over recent months on student accommodation. It is particularly concerned about students being asked to pay up to a year's rent in advance and having to provide lengthy termination notices. The measures included in this Bill will go some way to alleviating its concerns. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, continues to work with our colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, to deliver more accommodation for students through the national student accommodation strategy. At the end of 2020, 10,742 bed spaces had been completed in student-specific accommodation since July 2016, with a further 3,337 bed spaces in development on-site.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all Deputies for facilitating the swift passage of this Bill and ensuring these protections are in place for tenants in financial difficulty directly due to Covid-19. I assure Deputies that no tenant who needs help and enhanced protection from the State during Covid-19 will go without it. The protections of the Planning and Development, and Residential Tendencies, Act will help any tenant in financial difficulty while seeking financial support from the State to pay the rent. Tenants need to act as early as possible to avoid a build-up of rent arrears but can be assured of the State's support at this time. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, looks forward to debating with Deputies the proposed amendments on Committee Stage shortly.

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