Results 3,341-3,360 of 5,216 for speaker:Mick Barry

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: 47. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is satisfied that none of the renovated voids completed in 2018 were leased to tenants prior to renovation. [8478/19]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation Data (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: 71. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of adults and children, respectively, that accessed local authority managed emergency accommodation in January 2019. [8477/19]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: Evidence from all the agencies funded by the Government to deal with homelessness shows that the vast majority of homelessness is caused by evictions from the private rented sector. According to Focus Ireland, which is funded by the Government as the main agency dealing with family homelessness, 69% of homeless families reported that their last stable home was in the private rented sector....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: I will reply to the Chair's questions first and then briefly reply to some issues raised by Deputy O'Dowd. We have taken legal advice and we are happy to have the Bill tested against the legal opinion of anyone else, in these Houses or elsewhere.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: Yes, we can do that. We wish to make a political point and then a legal point about this. The political point is that there is a clash of interests, namely, the interests of landlords and the interests of tenants. One can assert the rights of private property and the rights of the market, but where has that led society? It has led us to the greatest housing and homelessness crisis in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: In many cases it is not genuine. The provision for six months' compensation aims to flush out the landlords who put that forward as a false reason. We also think that six months' compensation is not unreasonable. Finding alternative accommodation is very difficult for a young family with children. It is very expensive. The inconvenience that this family is put to by being forced to move...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: I will provide the Deputy with further information. I am not saying that 69% of homeless families have been evicted into homelessness. I am saying that it is not an unreasonable supposition that a very significant number, or the majority-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: In 2017, 32% of all queries to Threshold were about eviction notices. In other words, more than 5,000 families or households contacted Threshold that year because they faced losing their homes as a result of threatened eviction from the private rental sector. This was up from 14% of all queries in 2016. It is not realistic to think that 100% of people in this situation came knocking on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: For me, an eviction is a situation where a landlord gives a tenant notice to quit, the tenant is asked to leave the property and it is not voluntary from their point of view. They are going against their wishes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: The issue of non-payment of rent or rent arrears is not dealt with in this Bill. We are dealing with issues such as sale of property and so-called renovictions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: I do not think any reasonable person would argue that someone who refuses to pay their rent over a long and sustained period of time should have an automatic right to keep their tenancy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: They should not. I would point out that as I understand it, the current legislation is that a tenant whose rent is in one week's arrears can legally receive a notice to quit and be asked to leave within a period of 28 days. That contrasts with the position in Scotland, where someone has to be given three months' notice in a situation of rent arrears. However, that is a matter for another...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: I think I have missed my question in the House now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: No, I will reply briefly. This Bill does not deal with the issue of eviction on grounds of antisocial behaviour, let alone eviction on grounds of criminal behaviour.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: This Bill, essentially, deals with an important section of economic evictions. Those are evictions on grounds of sale of property and renovation. I am also referring to the lack of protection for people in buy-to-lets etc. Those are the issues we should focus on when we are discussing the Bill rather than discussing issues outside of what this Bill attempts to cover. I am going to run.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: Will the Chair please repeat that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: I regard that as an eviction and the law should be changed to afford tenants greater protection in that type of situation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: Yes. There are evictions that are legal as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: I have questions for the representatives of the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, and questions for the Irish Property Owners' Association, IPOA. I will be a bit parochial with the questions for the USI. The witnesses made a couple of mentions of events in Cork. Will they come back in and restate those? I am not sure if I quite caught one and would like more information on another if...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 and Anti-Evictions Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Feb 2019)

Mick Barry: If, for example, a section of the media wanted to find out more about the case in Cork, who would Ms Byrne suggest they contact?