Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I reiterate my position as outlined on Committee Stage. If we were to accept these amendments they would place an unreasonable obligation on the owner of a premises to ensure that the actions of a tenant would conform with the requirements under section 70 which deal with the general duties of an owner or an occupier. This would mean that if the tenant were responsible for any damage, an unreasonable burden would be placed on the owner. It is appropriate that liability for breach of a duty of care should be placed fairly and squarely on the perpetrator of that action rather than on a third party. It would be unfair to a landlord to hold him or her responsible when, for example, a tenant discharges a noxious substance into a sewer which could cause a risk to human health. In such a case the tenant should clearly be held liable for his or her actions. To provide otherwise would place a landlord in an invidious position and could leave him or her open to abuse of such a provision by a tenant in the course of a tenancy dispute.

The current wording offers the most direct means of enforcement of section 70 and therefore the most direct means of ensuring that human health and the environment are adequately protected. I am loath to introduce any provision which would blur these lines of enforcement and in the circumstances cannot accept the amendment.