Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

We have not had a chance to question the housing Minister, that I can recall, since coming into this Dáil. I wanted to register that. We have already seen him raising this great idea of the housing tsar. Somebody commented that we have not seen a tsar disappear so quickly since 1917. That idea has gone.

I will address some of the measures announced today. No-fault evictions have been banned for landlords who own four or more properties. How will the tenant know? How would a tenant have any idea how many properties their landlord actually owns so they can challenge an eviction if it is put to them? Before the Minister of State says they are all registered with the RTB, we know the vast majority of tenancies are not actually registered with the RTB. We have TDs in this Dáil who have a very big problem remembering they have tenancies, never mind other landlords registering them as well. The other thing is balance. What balance is there? All the cards are in the hands of landlords now. There is no need for this balance. Landlords already have all the power and nothing has been rebalanced. We keep hearing we must attract landlords back into the sector, but the number of landlords rose last year. This is constantly reiterated. It has been since 2016. Despite this landlords are increasing.

The other issue I want to raise is that the Taoiseach said earlier these measures are to activate supply and we can never reach our target of 50,000 unless we take some measures like these. It is this pivot Fianna Fáil has taken that we need to shift to the private sector. I do not accept that. There is huge capacity that is not being realised in the local authorities and the public sector. I have given the following example and I have asked the Taoiseach about it and am now asking the Minister of State. There is a strategic land bank in Scribblestown in Ashtown owned by Fingal County Council. The council says it can provide 7,000 homes. There has not been a meeting between the Minister and the council about that. It has asked for €200 million to help start development.

It has not received a reply as far as I know. That is a strategic land bank. We do not need to be kowtowing to the likes of Urbeo in Hansfield, for example, which is currently charging tenants a minimum €2,000 for a two-bed property. This is miles out of the city centre. We need the State to develop public housing. That is the only solution.

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