Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This whole "step aside" thing is not, unfortunately, how democracy works. We had an election. There is a Government. Sinn Féin had its chance to be in that. I would love to see its housing solution because it does not stack up. That is what commentator after commentator has costed and analysed.

I welcome the legislation before us. It is positive legislation and protects vulnerable people from November until the end of March. It should be subject to review thereafter because we saw during Covid that those who are less well-off and who are penalised by paying the highest rents in our country are put to the pin of their collar and are at the whim of landlords. We have seen excellent landlords, but also unscrupulous ones. This gives protection to people who, through no fault of their own, face eviction. There is a sunset clause in the legislation, of course.

The legislation also protects landlords. We have had people from both sides of this argument contact our offices. There are worried landlords who have seen properties trashed or rents not being paid. There are protections in this legislation for such people, but most important and central to the legislation are those who are vulnerable and will struggle to have a roof over their heads and have struggled so for a long time.

Inroads are being made and on Monday the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was in County Clare officially opening 153 new social housing units. That is delivering on housing and there is much more to come. If anyone saw the RTÉ news on Monday night, County Clare is one of several counties that are ahead of all expectations and of their own aims and thresholds. They will exceed it by 2026. That is not to clap backs but there is a rhetoric time and again that needs to be challenged.

In the spirit of this eviction ban, another group of people is very pressed at the moment. That group comprises small business owners, coffee shops and small retail. They face huge electricity and heating bills and overheads. I argued in the Chamber earlier that, just as we bring in this legislation to protect tenants, we should put a moratorium on and defer the revaluation of commercial rates for small businesses. It has been devastating for some of them in the past week in County Clare who faced a 33% commercial rates hike, on top of electricity and gas bills etc. Budget 2023 did an awful lot to support those people, but it will be taking with the other hand if we allow these increased rates to go ahead. It is in the same spirit of helping people over these difficult few months. We were able to defer commercial rate hikes during Covid and the same should happen as we face this new crisis in the cost of living. Many small businesses face an existential crisis and the sensible and prudent thing would be to defer it.

Counties are bundled together for revaluation processes. Clare is in with Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. People in those counties who have taken the plunge, gamble and risk to enter small business now face a hike in revaluation bills of 33% or up to 40% on what they faced heretofore. Revaluation does not happen every few years. The last revaluation in County Clare took place in 1862. If we have not had to tackle it from 1862 to 2022, I think we can kick it a little further along the road.

The legislation before us is positive, progressive and has my full support. That sunset clause has to exist in things like this but should be subject to review.

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