Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to register my support for the Bill and commend the Labour Party on bringing it forward. On the ground in County Kerry, there has been a crisis in housing going back to 2011 when the decisions were made to stop building social housing and to abolish town councils, which exacerbated a difficult situation. I welcome in particular the provisions of the Bill relating to security and standards. It is a sound Bill overall and it is worthy of support.

Tenants and renters in County Kerry have experienced a significant degree of vulnerability in recent years. Every week or two, I meet people whose rent has been increased. They are put into panic because they anticipate that they will get a notice or they have received a notice, although, in fairness, the notice is usually in compliance with the standards as outlined. However if one is, like a man I met during the week, a separated man of 72 years of age looking for a place to live, maybe for the rest of one's days, and one has received a notice, it can make one's life come crumbling down. In 2020, Kerry experienced the largest rent increases in the country for that calendar year. According to the latest Daft.ie report, a 16.5% year-on-year increase occurred in the second quarter of this year. Rather than deflating the market, Covid-19 has stoked it.

This has not been helped by the Government's recent plan, which has seen rents increase as the Minister's plan lacks credibility. A chronic shortage of housing, combined with a large number of second homes and holiday homes, particularly in County Kerry, has given rise to this situation. The market is pitched heavily towards landlords and there is a need to rebalance and address that discrepancy through the law. The Bill will tighten the grounds for evicting current tenants under the exemptions offered for family members. In reality, this has been shoddily enforced. Major institutional landlords have used it, farcically listing their own company name as being in need of a property for a relative. For those reasons alone, I support the Bill.

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