Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to talk again about the risk to tenants who have to live in accommodation under reckless landlords. The tenants of Liberty Lane, Dublin 8, have for two years been paying €500 and €600 per month for a tin box with wires dangling around the kitchen area and bathroom area, and with two showers between 27 of them. Twenty-seven people now face homelessness in the weeks before Christmas. Would the Taoiseach join me in calling on the landlord, who is one of our own, to do the decent thing? Nowadays people go on about who is our own and who is not. He is one of our own, an Irish landlord who is putting at risk the lives of 27 people. There should be criminal negligence charges brought against him. Furthermore, I argue that every penny given to him in rent from the illegal unauthorised dwelling – a dwelling representing a fire safety risk – from which he profiteered, should be handed back to the tenants so they can at least find some comfortable accommodation before Christmas. I ask the Taoiseach to join me in calling on the landlord, Cathal Garrad, do the decent thing, hand back the money and face whatever consequences should be faced because of his activity.

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