Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There was more grim news this week for the thousands of people desperate to find a secure and affordable home. House prices are now higher than the Celtic tiger peak yet the Government's building targets remain too low. It is four months since the Taoiseach admitted to me in Leaders’ Questions that more ambition would be needed. Instead of Housing for All, it seems we are still stuck with housing just for some.

Those struggling to find an affordable home to rent must continue to compete with short-term tourist lettings. It is five years since the Oireachtas first debated a Labour Bill to regulate Airbnb-style lets. Now we understand that the European Commission is still delaying a decision on the Government's proposal to do just that. The Government needs to remind the Commission how dire the housing crisis is here and let it know of the urgency. We cannot afford to wait any longer for EU proposals. For years, we have called for stronger regulation of short-term letting. We know how many homes these platforms take out of use because, during the pandemic, suddenly they all became available. That situation has now been allowed to worsen again. "Building back better" post Covid has made its way out of the lexicon. Instead, prospective buyers and renters are being victimised by a profit-driven market, and laissez-fairepolicies in the Department of housing.

Renters in Ireland are still at the whim of landlords. There has been no tangible strengthening of renters' rights since the general election. No-fault evictions are still taking place, even though we in Labour proposed a Bill to stop them. While inspections in the private rented sector have gone up since the pandemic, enforcement is practically non-existent in many areas. Not a single prohibition notice was issued in ten local authority areas last year.

Homelessness figures will be out tomorrow, and no one is under any illusion that there will be good news this month. Every day, across the country, tenants live in fear of the dreaded call to tell them they will be losing their home. It is a Wild West for renters out there. Just ask any of the tenants of Marc Godart. I give credit to The Irish Timesfor pulling back the veil on what is really going on for renters in the properties of this Luxembourg investor. Godart has deployed CCTV to monitor his tenants, is accused of unlawful evictions, has failed to pay compensation to former tenants who won at the RTB and has summarily fired his workers. We hear about ruthless working conditions for those who work for him.

The latest documents revealed by The Irish Timesshow that he is now trying to recruit people to act as fronts for his property empire - getting others to use their identities to set up Airbnb accounts. Across a range of legal frameworks, he is riding roughshod over the rights of tenants and workers, and he appears to be operating with impunity. This is very serious. Yesterday, he avoided prosecution for breaches of planning laws. His companies were fined just €7,500 but that’s probably only a few days' takings in some of his city-centre Airbnb properties. Are we going to continue to allow unscrupulous landlords to exploit legal loopholes and to exploit renters, many of whom are desperate for a roof over their heads? He also exploits workers, it seems. When will short-term lets be regulated? How will the Government tackle egregious abuses of the law by a small number of unscrupulous landlords like Godart?

See this speech in context