Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)

I am speaking on behalf of the Green Party on the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill, which has been drafted and delivered at speed. I will come back to the point about speed in a moment.

I will focus my remarks on one particular cohort of renters, namely, student renters. One the question of speed, I spoke at the launch of the Raise the Roof motion on Monday. I said the Government was in complete panic mode when it came to housing. The treatment of this Bill is a perfect example of that panic. The legislation was approved by the Cabinet on 17 June and published the same day. The Bill is now progressing through this House in a single day, with all Stages taken today. There was no pre-legislative scrutiny, regulatory impact assessment or formal consultation with student representatives. We know from experience that rushed legislation seldom results in a fair or balanced outcome, in particular when it comes to housing.

I understand that sometimes we have to move legislation rapidly. I had to do it myself. This is not rapid, however; it is reckless. I have no doubt mistakes will come to light in the debate here or in the Seanad but because there is not sufficient time to go through the Bill in detail and to introduce Committee Stage amendments, I expect we will bring in amendments to the legislation in the autumn term. I have no doubt about that.

We know that student renters are under real pressure. Last year, UCC students' union did a survey of more than 3,000 students, which was strongly representative. More than 50% of respondents said that housing costs were their most significant source of pressure. Nearly two thirds said the cost of housing was harming their health and well-being. This Bill is not going to address those issues; in fact, it will compound them.

Under this Bill, rent can be reset to market rates whenever a tenancy ends. This might sound innocent enough, but in the student context, where most leases run from September to May, it means students could see a rent increase every academic year, even when they return to the exact same room. This undermines the goal of rent caps and introduces instability for students. It makes long-term affordability impossible to predict.

Despite the scale of the student housing sector, this Bill offers no legal definition of student tenancies. Such a definition matters. Without a formal category, it is unclear how or whether these tenancies can be tailored to the unique needs of students. The Minister for higher and further education, Deputy James Lawless, recently said students should not be inadvertently disadvantaged by the new rental laws. He spoke about designating a certain category for student tenancies. He said that could be part of a solution. He is right. That solution is not in this Bill but it should be.

To address these problems, I am asking the Minister, perhaps when he is bringing the legislation to the Seanad because it cannot be done here, to adopt the following approaches: tie rent caps to the property and not just to the lease so students returning to the same room are not charged new market rent each year; and, importantly, give a legal definition to student tenancy allowing academic year leases to be regulated in line with their unique situation. These are not radical asks. They are practical adjustments that would make this legislation better for a group that is vital to Ireland's future and is already facing real pressures.

Students are not luxury tenants. They are our future nurses, engineers and researchers. They cannot afford to live near their universities. They live with the constant stress of rising costs that we as legislators have heaped on them and failed to address at this point. This element of the Bill is not beyond repair, but it does need revision. It needs to recognise the structural realities of student accommodation. It needs to close those gaps that allow for exploitative pricing under the cover of technical compliance. Let us protect all tenants, not just in principle but in practice as well. Let us not pass legislation that looks fair on paper, only to realise too late that it allows sharp increases in rent where stability is most needed. We have some time between this Bill going from this House to the next House. Let us make those amendments.

See this speech in context