Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for his Bill. We are not opposing the Bill and we want to engage. I mention the empirical evidence that has been provided to us to date. The Government has noted that we are allowing the Bill to proceed to scrutiny by the relevant committee. However, the Government has noted that the reliance on the exemption has caused few disputes or referrals to the RTB. From information provided by the RTB on a small number of dispute referrals, no landlord has been able to satisfy the RTB that, first, the price that would be obtained by selling at market value with the tenants in situis more than 20% below the market value that could be obtained for the dwelling as if it was sold for vacant possession. Second, the information indicates that the application of the Tyrrelstown amendment would be unduly onerous and cause undue hardship. In all such disputes, any notice of termination that relied on the exemption was invalidated by the RTB.

We must also remember that the exemption from the Tyrrelstown amendment is legally required to provide the necessary balance between restricting the constitutionally protected property rights of landlords and providing security of tenure for tenants. The original aim of the Tyrrelstown amendment was to mitigate the destabilising effect of a large number of people all seeking new accommodation at the same time in the same location.

We are not opposing the Bill and we look forward to engagement on it on Committee Stage. Based on the empirical evidence to date, we have found that the RTB only had a small number of related dispute referrals and that no landlord has been able to satisfy the RTB during its dispute resolution process.

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