Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To insert the following after "25th January, 2024":

": provided that this Order shall take effect only after the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 has been amended to provide for the Accommodation Recognition Payment Scheme termination date to be extended only for the following:

— existing recipients with respect to the beneficiaries of temporary protection currently benefiting from the scheme; and

— new applicants who propose to host a beneficiary of temporary protection in their property which is also their own principle primary residence and who have not availed of the Rent-a-Room Scheme in the previous 12 months".

What we are dealing with here is the €800 tax-free payment that is made available to hosts and landlords who provide their properties to Ukrainians and the extension of the scheme for another year. I acknowledge this was brought in two years ago at a time of great uncertainty but we now need to look at its impact and fairness. I applaud the generosity of thousands of Irish families who opened their family homes to thousands of Ukrainians. We need to provide certainty to Ukrainians who are currently availing of the scheme that they will continue to be supported by extending the scheme until 2025.

However, like any policy, we must achieve balance and avoid unintended consequences. It is clear that what the Government is proposing will provide an incentive for the displacement of private renters who are not beneficiaries of temporary protection and that is not fair. It was hard enough to find a place, never mind an affordable place, to rent but many people simply cannot compete with a Government scheme that provides €800 tax free to landlords who offer their properties to beneficiaries of temporary protection. It is a scheme that is in direct competition with private renters. Sinn Féin raised these issues with the Minister in the Seanad last week but it is clear the Government has not listened. When speaking about this in November last year, the Minister said, "We do not want to pursue a measure that interferes with the private rental market." I agree with that statement. However, that is precisely what the Government is doing.

Take my own county of Donegal, where the average rent is close to €800. A landlord can either rent out a property to a private renter for €800 and then pay tax on that €800 or take €800 tax free and rent it out to a beneficiary of temporary protection. Landlords have been very open about the choice they face. One landlord has said he gets €800 tax free, equal to about €1,500 in rent, which is more than he would get for the place if he rented it out on the private market. How is this fair? How is this not interfering with the private rental market?

Our amendment is about supporting Ukrainians who are currently availing of the scheme by extending it for one year and supporting host families who have opened their family homes, including for future applicants, but it roots out the unfairness at the heart of the scheme. The State should not be providing support to a home for those benefiting of temporary protection that should otherwise be available to private renters. Those who open their own family homes to Ukrainians should continue to be supported, but if this room was previously let out under the rent a room scheme, it should not be supported as all the Government is doing is directly denying the student in need of that accommodation a home.It is clear this scheme is already affecting private renters. Extending it in full for another year will make matters worse and, worse still, the impact will be greater in the time ahead as Government policy is now to increase social welfare payments to Ukrainians who secure private rental accommodation. This will turbo-charge the pressures renters are already experiencing.

Our proposal is a sensible one, but more importantly, it is a fair one. It supports existing beneficiaries of the scheme and new applicants to the scheme where it has no impact on private renters and students but, crucially, it blocks State support from tilting the scales further against private renters and this House should adopt it.

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