Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. It is our view that extending the eviction moratorium until the end of January, the depths of winter, which is Sinn Féin policy, will just make things worse then. It is not a solution.

These are the solutions. It is more social housing. We built more social housing last year than in any year since 1975. There has been no government in the Deputy's lifetime or mine more committed to social housing than this one, and we will build even more this year. It is the tenant in situscheme, with local authorities and approved housing bodies buying up homes in order that housing assistance payment, HAP, tenants and rental accommodation scheme, RAS, tenants can become proper social housing tenants. It is more supply. Among the measures we have confirmed this week is an expansion of the Croí Cónaithe grant in order that we can have derelict to rent, bringing old buildings back into use for the purpose of rent, as well as changes to the fair deal and the activation of unactivated planning permissions. We have also confirmed this week that there will be taxation changes to encourage small landlords to stay in the market and new ones to enter it. Those changes will be in the budget and they will apply from this year. We are providing additional funding for NGOs, councils and others to help with homelessness prevention, which is crucial.

We should step back for a moment and recap on what happened here. Last October, we all decided that there would be a winter eviction moratorium and that it would end on 31 March. We proposed it and Sinn Féin voted for it on a voice vote, and that vote was to end it on 31 March. Sinn Féin has since changed its position. Now its members have tabled a Private Members' motion, which is not legally binding. They knew it was not legally binding when they tabled it. It is a show motion from showboaters who have changed their position on this three times in the past few weeks. It will not pass, and even if it did, it would have no practical effect, and they know that.

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