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

Those tenants deserve protection now because that is a ruthless logic. This is not the mom-and-pop landlord often referred to as a justification for the lack of protections; this is cold, ruthless, profit-driven logic. These people have no intention of being landlords to tenants. They have one intention and one intention only, that is, to make profit by putting people out in the street.

Why would the Minister not want to take this opportunity to protect such tenants? That is the question and I have never got an answer to it. Is it his intention to stop that type of behaviour and, if so, why will he not do it now? That is a serious question. Real people's well-being and mental health, in the context of having a place to live and not being forced into crisis situations, depend on the answer he gives to that question.

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