Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank People Before Profit for its work on tabling this motion.

It is very important that this is highlighted. As was just said, there is no excuse for delays or stalling on this issue. It is an urgent area. It is cynical for this to be passed through Second Stage but for it not to be progressed as urgently as it needs to be thereafter. The position of the Social Democrats is that we fully support a reinstatement of a ban on no-fault evictions. This situation in most European countries is that no-fault evictions are out of the norm and when a renter pays their rent, they cannot be evicted. In most European countries, when the landlord goes to sell, it is absolutely fine and there is no issue with it or bother. The tenant-renter stays in their home and starts paying their rent into a new bank account when ownership transfers. That is what happens; the landlord is able to sell and does not have to worry about the renter and the renter does not have to worry about finding a new home, potentially uprooting their children from school and perhaps having to move from the community in which they have built ties. They may be involved in the local GAA club, parish, bingo or Tidy Towns. They might be just getting to know their neighbours and their children might be making friends in school. None of that is uprooted under this approach, and there is stability in the sector.

The interesting thing about rental sectors in other European countries where renters have this form of security when they pay their rent is that there is still investment in the sector. In fact, some European countries have much larger rental sectors than Ireland. It is claimed by the Government that we could not reinstate the ban on no-fault evictions because it would affect investment, yet we are surrounded by countries in which there is plenty of investment in larger rental sectors. Somehow, investors in other European countries are able to invest in rental sectors that are humane and do not have that massive disruption to renters' lives. It can all work and exist. Somehow, the Government does not have confidence in people investing in Ireland that they would be able to do likewise. That is a bit of a slur against most landlords. Most of the landlords I talk to are absolutely concerned about the welfare of renters and tenants. It is certainly not all - I have dealt with some circumstances in which the opposite is the case. I engage with a lot of landlords who are genuinely very concerned about the welfare of their tenants. It would not meet the levels of resistance that the Government seems to say it will. In effect, that really is a slur on the majority of landlords.

It is worth stating that the country in Europe with the largest rental sector is Switzerland. It regulates the sector well and if a renter pays rent in Switzerland and the landlord goes to sell their property, the renter is not evicted; they stay in their home. The conversation in most European countries is very different from the one we are having. It is about how to support renters and, indeed, landlords in situations in which renters fall behind in their rent, what can be done to ensure the renter can stay in their tenancy and how to support the renter and the landlord to ensure that in terms of mediation payments plans and so forth. That is the conversation they have in other European countries. It is very different from the one we are having now. It is the conversation we should be having.

Much of this goes back to some sort of view from the Government, based on some sort of Irish exceptionalism, that we are incapable of having a rental system like most other European countries. I do not know what the Government thinks about Irish people that we are not capable of having decent security of tenure for people who pay their rent, as is the norm. Look at countries like Finland and what it has done to virtually eradicate homelessness. Is the Government seriously telling us it thinks there is something about Finnish people that we do not have as a country that we could not do likewise? I do not think so. Yet, the Government keeps following policies it knows are detrimental in terms of homelessness. There is a claim from the Government that reinstating the ban on no-fault evictions would drive more landlords out. There has been a constant claim from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage that there has been a large exodus of landlords. That claim simply does not stack up. The census data is very clear that, since 2016, the number of households in the private rental sector has increased by 7%. That has not been reflected in the figures of registrations with the RTB for a different reason. I get constant complaints from landlords about the complexity of registering their tenancies with the RTB. A landlord contacted me recently and told me they had sent in their form six times and it was sent back six times. They were not told what was wrong with the form and could not talk to a human being and have a discussion or find out information about how to register. These landlords are genuinely trying to register their tenancies and are faced with a bureaucratic system that simply will not communicate with them and just keeps sending the form back to them. If we want registrations to go up, we need to listen to landlords and have a system with humans with whom they can engage.

The claim that the ban on no-fault evictions did not work is not true. The most effective thing any government has done to reduce homelessness in the last number of years was the first ban on evictions, when homelessness fell considerably. The second ban on evictions, which was more limited, had an effect. There was only been one month in the last 19 during which the number of homeless people fell, which was when that eviction ban was in place. At the tail end it was beginning to have an effect but the Government withdrew it. We always said that there was a lagging effect between introducing the eviction ban and the results. It takes several months because, for the first while when they get evicted, people often stay with friends and family on floors and couches. None of that shows up in the homeless figures. Several months after that, you begin to see the numbers in emergency accommodation. It was working. This is a deliberate choice by the Government. The Government is also choosing not to act. There is a lack of humanity in the approach. The Government should reinstate the eviction ban and extend tenant in situpurchases. Focus Ireland recommended that we need about 5,000 a year to prevent more families from becoming homeless. The Government should do that straight away. Instead, the target the Government is currently working under is just 1,500, well below the actual need. For example, in the first half of this year, in Dublin alone, more than 4,300 notices to quit were issued. Yet, the target for tenant in situin Dublin is 725. If the focus was not on tax relief for landlords, for example, there is a huge amount that could be done to prevent homelessness.

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