Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Last week, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, was critical of our party for having the temerity to table a Private Member's motion calling on Government not only to extend the ban on no-fault evictions but also to take emergency measures to both reduce homelessness and increase the supply of social and affordable housing.

The Taoiseach said that, because the motion was not legally-binding, it suggested that the party was not serious about the matter and was only playing politics. We wanted to leave the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues, including the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, under no doubt whatsoever about our seriousness on this issue and, therefore, today we are tabling legislation that would be, if passed by this House, legally binding on the Oireachtas to extend that ban.

As the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will be aware, it is almost word-for-word a replica of his own legislation from October last, simply with the dates of the Bill changed. We did that to ensure its speedy passage through the Bills Office to get it on the Order Paper. As the Minister also will be aware, my view is there needs to be a single amendment to the Bill to ensure where a homeowner who himself or herself is homeless or at risk of homelessness, he or she should be able to access his or her property.

The reason we tabled the Bill today is because we wanted to give every Member of Dáil Éireann a simple opportunity to state clearly and categorically through a vote on legislation as to whether he or she is in favour of extending this crucial protection for renters or whether he or she would vote to increase homelessness. In fact, I would have thought the Government would have welcomed that vote. The Taoiseach has been particularly brash, if not at certain points callous, in his defence of the Government's position in recent weeks. I thought he would relish the opportunity to stand up and be counted and have all of the Deputies supporting his Government, Independents included, do likewise but now it appears that the Government does not want a vote on this Bill at all.

At the eleventh hour, Government tabled a reasoned amendment. I do not think there has been in my time in the Oireachtas an amendment of this nature to a Private Members' Bill. The purpose of that is to avoid the vote on the legislation itself.

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