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

I thank the Minister for his comments. I acknowledge the work put into the Bill by my colleagues, Deputy Bacik, and Senator Moynihan, our housing spokesperson. We appreciate that the Minister is not opposing the Bill and some of his comments reacting to the Bill are welcome. Some of the commentary made outside this House, however, has been particularly disappointing. My colleagues referred to that earlier.

It just makes us all wonder where is the priority of Government. Whom in the housing market is it actually trying to protect? There is no equivalence between the danger that the renter faces and the danger that a landlord faces. I wish the Tánaiste and Taoiseach would realise this.

It is a bit like when we have the debates on low pay and workers' rights. My colleague, Deputy Nash, will conclude the debate for the Labour Party and he knows well that whenever we talk about legislation to strengthen workers' rights, somebody always asks, "What about the employer?" We end up with 23% of workers in low pay because resisting giving a worker that right inevitably leads to that worker having less stake in the economy and not having that level of dignity because the legislation always seems to fall down on the employer's side.

In response to the comments that the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach made, I say that renters could lose their home. There is no equivalence between the danger of a renter losing his or her home and a landlord losing some money. In Irish history classes as children we are taught about the Land League and the very basic rights it was seeking of fixity of tenure and fair rent. These things are not consigned to the history books. We have history lessons in here all the time from flag-wavers in different parties. They are some of the most basic foundations of the decency that we were hoping to achieve in a republic.

There is a sense that renters are some kind of failures who have not got themselves on the property market, their lives are somehow disorganised, they have not made a success of things or they are young and will probably move out at some point. We need to recalibrate and recast our collective brains around the fact that many people will rent for their entire lives.

The Tánaiste and Taoiseach saying that we need to be mindful that a landlord might lose some money out of this makes some of us in opposition wonder if they really get it and highlights where the power really is. As Deputies, we have all spoken to people in fear of losing their homes. It is a very real fear. The potential of losing one's home is a terror. That is why I am so proud that Deputy Bacik has stood by her by-election commitment to introduce legislation in this House to protect those rights. We need to collectively rebalance our priorities in this area.

We appreciate that the Minister is not opposing the Bill. Legislation can always be improved and we take that process in good faith. However, it is a commentary on those in senior positions in this Government that when it comes to the suggestion of having absolute protections for renters what jumped into their head first was the profit margins of landlords or the money that landlords might lose out on. This is an issue the entire Government needs to reflect on.

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