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

I agree with the previous two speakers regarding the overall delivery of affordable cost-rental housing. It is way off what is needed. There is no question about that, and it is especially the case given we have multi-billion euro surpluses available that could, of course, be put into affordable housing.

The Bill is no way to do legislation. I accept that parts of it are urgent, such as those relating to AHB registration, with which I have no issue, but other parts are not urgent and should have been done in the proper way with pre-legislative scrutiny. Indeed, having the deadline for amendments at 11 o'clock on a day last week, when Second Stage of the Bill is happening today, is not the way to do legislation. The whole idea of setting the deadline for amendments after Second Stage is so that we can hear the contributions of the Minister and the other Members, which can form part of helping people formulate amendments. Rushing through steps in this manner is not the way to go, and it has been a hallmark of the Minister. In fact, there does not seem to be any regard for the legislative process or for getting input from the Dáil.

In respect of approved housing bodies and cost rental, I want to hear from the Minister of State what the long-term thinking is with regard to one issue. Clearly, there is some evidence of approved housing bodies shifting social housing stock into cost rental when their financing arrangements have concluded. This, of course, could lead in the long term to a continuous reduction in our levels of social housing stock, which has been part of our current problem. Not only have we not started to build enough social homes but we have not held on to enough of them. I want to hear from the Minister of State what the long-term thinking here is in the context of what safeguards will be put in place to protect our social housing stock, or whether a different view is being taken. Is a view being taken in line with what was recommended in the Housing Commission whereby the long-term plan is to convert a lot of that social housing stock into cost-rental stock while maintaining it as social housing tenancies if there is a need to subsidise low-income tenants? It would be good to hear the thinking of the Minister of State and the Government on this. Part of what we have missed by not having the pre-legislative scrutiny is that those kinds of issues and potential safeguards in the form of long-term thinking have not been teased out.

Comprehensive research on cost rental was recently carried out by Dr. Mick Byrne, Dr. Sarah Sheridan, Dr. Robert Sweeney and Dr. Cian O'Callaghan - not a bad name but it is not me. Their research on the sector is good and shows that it is successful tenure. It shows that tenants are generally very happy and that it is a much better place to be than the private rented sector in terms of security, standards and how it is managed. It does highlight that affordability is an issue and it specifically shows that affordability is an issue for between one third and one quarter of households in cost rental. It also shows that there are as many households paying more in rent now in the cost-rental sector than they were in the private rented sector than there are households paying less than in the private rented sector. It points out that, by and large, those households are reasonably happy with the situation they are in, with new accommodation that is better managed and often larger than that in the private rented sector, but still that affordability is an issue. Of course, this research, the authors point out, does not capture those who are deemed ineligible for cost rental on affordability grounds and cannot get into the sector. People who do not qualify for social housing would love to be eligible for cost rental but do not qualify for it. We need to hear, in the context of cost rental, what the Minister and the Government are doing to address this.

Another aspect of the Bill relates to affordable housing in Gaeltacht areas.

The Minister recently launched a new cost-rental scheme in Bearna to much fanfare. However, there are no language conditions attached to the scheme. It will not assist with the protection of Irish in the Gaeltacht area. The Minister said there cannot be language conditions under existing legislation. When asked about the cost-rental scheme in Bearna in an article on Tuairisc.ie two weeks ago, a spokesperson for the Department of housing said it was examining how housing is distributed under the Affordable Housing Act and how that process could be improved, including any amendments to legislation that might be necessary. That was a direct response to queries about the lack of language conditions attached to the scheme in the Gaeltacht. This miscellaneous provisions Bill includes nothing to address the protection of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht. Why is that so when other measures have been progressed? The language is under threat in Gaeltacht areas due to planning failures. That needs to be addressed. The Government gave a commitment almost three years ago that planning guidelines would be issued to Gaeltacht planning authorities regarding their statutory obligations to protect the Irish language in their areas. Those guidelines still have not been issued. I hope the Minister of State will tell us whether they will be issued in the lifetime of the Government.

This morning, I attended a briefing by the National Women's Council of Ireland regarding its research on the urgent need to ban sex-for-rent practices. Its research shows that women who are at risk of homelessness or in a situation of housing precarity, women on low incomes, migrants and those fleeing domestic violence are most at risk from exploitative sex-for-rent practices. The council also pointed out that there are currently no legal protections for tenants who make a complaint against a landlord attempting to exploit them in this way. We were told by Ministers that offences could be prosecuted under different legislation. However, the council's research shows that, in practice, while there is sympathy and support from the Garda when complaints are made to it, the complainants are told that nothing can be done under existing legislation and it is a civil matter. This contrasts quite starkly with the situation in the workplace, where there are, rightly, protections whereby employers and employees can be prosecuted under sexual harassment legislation. There is no equivalent protection for people when they are harassed in this way in their home or potential home. It is not acceptable that people could be exposed to this behaviour in their home, which is the place where they retreat to feel safe. When I introduced my Ban on Sex for Rent Bill in 2022, the Government gave a commitment to bring forward its own legislation in this area. We are still waiting for it. The Government has failed to take action. It is fast-tracking this Bill through the Oireachtas but we are still waiting for a measure it promised years ago to protect vulnerable renters. There is no sign the Government will act on it. Why is that the case?

Reference was made to the Housing Commission. Its members have done excellent work and made very detailed recommendations in their report. That report was published last May and there has been no discussion of it since then in the Dáil, despite our repeated requests that it be properly discussed. At the time, we got a fairly perfunctory statement from the Minister and the Department that most of the recommendations in the report were either already implemented or being implemented. Professor Michelle Norris, a member of the commission, had to publicly state that she did not waste the previous couple of years of her life on a report making recommendations that were already under way. The Department's statement was quite insulting to the work done by the commission members. The Government set up the commission and invited people to give their time to participate in it. The members brought forward a very detailed report with a huge number of recommendations. The least the Government can do is give time in the Dáil for some proper consideration and discussion of those recommendations.

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