Results 13,261-13,280 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Off the top of my head, I am not. I will have to look into that. When rent caps were brought in, people said it would create a two-tier rental sector. Some people’s rent would be controlled and people just outside the rent control area would be under pressure in respect of rent increases. One of the issues Senator Murnane O'Connor raised was that some people felt they were being...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I appreciate that. The system by which an area is designated an RPZ is based on the most recent data we get on a quarterly basis from the RTB, which then consults with the Housing Agency and a recommendation for a new area is given to me to sign off on. Two areas were included in the final quarterly report of 2018. There is no flexibility on my part. In the legislation we are taking due...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senators for tabling the amendments. Before we had a crisis in homelessness, before we had families in the numbers that they are in emergency accommodation, we had a problem, as Senator Humphreys referred to, with families not having the kind of tenancy security they needed to be able to live in an area as a renter and raise a family and have their kids in school. That had to be...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senators for their contributions. I will address Senator Warfield's concerns first. The different amendments are all related in many ways. On the data issue, the NGOs say that landlords selling properties is the main reason people end up in emergency accommodation. The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, says that it is actually rent arrears, that is, people not paying rent. Let...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: On the second question, there are changes in the Bill which mean that where a notice to quit is served on a tenant, the landlord must furnish that notice to the RTB within 28 days of the notice to quit period expiring. That allows the RTB, which is being given new powers, to follow up and inspect whether it was served for the reasons that it purportedly had been served. If it was not, there...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We are creating at least 300 new HAP tenancies a week, which is staggering. Despite the crisis we have, 300 households are being supported each week under HAP for the first time. That is important. While recognising that, it can be difficult to secure HAP properties in certain areas for individuals. We rolled out place finders and made them available to every local authority, although not...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I understand the motivation behind the amendment. We want people to continue to use the free mediation services of the RTB which has no intention of charging for them at any time in the near future. However, it is prudent to include this provision in the legislation in case it becomes necessary to use it at some point in the future, but no one is planning on invoking or using it following...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: No one is talking about introducing a fee overnight. The RTB offers free mediation services and we want them to continue. This is about the change management programme that is under way within the RTB to move it from being a board to a regulator and providing for all of the aspects that might be need to be addressed at some point in the future without the need to have to come back to the...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: To be clear, any change in this area would not be made without the RTB first coming to me and the Houses to discuss it. It is not even on its horizon to charge for the service. I am looking ahead to a landscape on which there will more larger landlords and when there may be a case to advise a group of tenants involved in a dispute with a large landlord to go through the RTB mediation...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: All I can say to allay the Senator's concern is that if this is to happen, it must have the consent of the Minister, regardless of who the Minister is. The Minister of the day will always be accountable to both Houses of the Oireachtas. I cannot know what the outcome of the next general election will be. If I were betting, I would bet that it will be another minority Government. When we...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I will respond for a final time on this section. I am not asking anyone to "take a punt". The RTB is not looking to do this. We are trying to manage a change management programme for the RTB to make it a robust regulator for landlords and tenants alike. We are trying to build a new rental sector that is more mature and more European. I have looked at every aspect of everything that may...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senator for her contribution. I understand the reasons behind the amendment. It was gone through previously on Committee Stage when the Bill was progressing through the Dáil. On her first point, local authorities are building more houses than housing bodies. I do not wish to delay the House. Essentially, the provision of social housing was reduced almost exclusively to...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senator for putting forward the amendment. In the first instance, removing the Circuit Court from the confirmation process is unconstitutional. I will explain why, even if it were constitutional, I believe it would be necessary to have the provision in place. I do not like just to say it is unconstitutional and shut down debate. If the Senator does not mind, I will take a...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Separate from that, for lesser offences where a landlord has acted offside, we have a new administrative sanctioning process in this Bill and new offences concerning improper conduct. For example, we talked about section 34 notices to quit being served. Where a landlord serves such a notice, asks the tenant to vacate the premises because it is going to be done up to such an extent that the...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: In the budget for this year we increased Exchequer funding by 67% for the RTB to allow for inspections to be done by the RTB and local authorities. Under the Bill, we are bringing about this new concept of an authorised officer and a decision-maker. The RTB will be able to hire people to be investigators, essentially, and we provided money in the budget for the board to do that. A lot of...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I very much respect the work that Senator Humphreys has done on short-term letting. We had some conversations around this. When we conclude this legislation, I will then have to commence this section of and I will have to bring forward the regulations under these legislative changes. The meat for the regulation of short-term letting is in the regulations. The legislative changes are more...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (16 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I am the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, a responsibility I carry with me every day and night. When a person in emergency accommodation dies, I get that phone call.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (16 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Every day I meet members of the public who struggle because of the crisis in housing and homelessness. They are people in emergency accommodation or sleeping rough, young families and couples seeking to buy their first home and people who cannot afford the rent they pay or who spend far too long commuting, which damages their quality of life because they cannot find homes near where they...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (16 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: If Sinn Féin had ideas and a plan worth implementing, it would receive the support of the House. We are a minority Government, which means Opposition Deputies can, if they have the ideas and the programme, secure that support and have their ideas implemented.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (16 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: A Cheann Comhairle, I am merely pointing out the hypocrisy of some Deputies who claim to have all the answers but who, when they put forward their ideas, cannot win the support of any of their colleagues.