Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and I congratulate him on taking time to draw up this legislation. He considered the position that applied four years ago when the Bacon report emerged, when there was an escalation in house prices and when many people were obliged to avail of rented accommodation. He looked at what was available during that period, a time when there was no standardisation and when landlords had a field day. I know many landlords who are fine people and who respect their obligations and responsibilities and tenants' rights. However, there is also a number of cowboys who feel no sense of obligation to their tenants or to resolving any difficulties which may arise.

There is nobody better placed than the Minister of State to deal with this matter. While a member of the city council some years ago, he saw the problems as they first arose. He is, therefore, aware of how this situation should be handled. In my view, any Minister or Minister of State charged with introducing legislation should have a background which will allow them to deal with problems as they arise. I am delighted that the Minister of State is guiding this Bill through the House.

Two of the main matters with which the Bill deals are those of security of tenure for tenants and the issuing of notices to quit. In the past, I lived in accommodation in Rathmines, Ranelagh and Ballsbridge. These areas were comprised of a maze of flats and appalling bedsits. There were beautiful old houses with four or five bedsits in one room. The conditions were appalling and tenants lived in squalor. The position was similar in other university cities throughout the country where the same sort of accommodation existed. There were no controls in place and landlords could charge as much for rent as they saw fit and dismiss people from their accommodation if they so wished. Whenever they were called upon to fix leaking pipes, for example, there was no question of this being done. The conditions to which I refer obtained until recent years. However, the situation is improving. Efforts have been made, even by landlords, to introduce fairness to the market. I welcome that sort of thinking, which is also incorporated in the Bill.

Rent increases used to depend on an ad hoc arrangement and depended on supply and demand. If one returned to Ranelagh or Rathmines in August after the summer holidays, one would see queues a mile long of people seeking accommodation. Landlords were, therefore, in a position to do what they liked. They could snap their fingers and decide to charge whatever amount of rent they desired.

The Bill provides for security of tenure for an initial period of six months up to three to four years. Some flexibility should be shown in this area, particularly after the experience of the elderly residents of the Mespil apartments. They were owned by an absentee landlord and when the apartment blocks were sold, many elderly residents on fixed rents were suddenly faced with colossal rents. Many public representatives got involved in the issue and I am glad it was resolved. Security of tenure is an important provision incorporated in the Bill.

Most of the apartments in my area are rented with only six owner occupiers who have been subjected to awful treatment and anti-social behaviour. The open spaces have not been maintained with overgrown trees blocking sunlight to the apartments. As the landlord is an absentee, he cannot be requested to cut back the trees. Tenants are also involved in anti-social behaviour, such as blowing their car horns at 3 a.m, while the owner occupiers can do nothing to seek recourse. I ask the Minister of State to reinforce the provisions, such as exclusion orders, for anti-social behaviour. How best can the system be improved to put exclusion orders on individuals in private as well as local authority accommodation, as Senator Brian Hayes pointed out?

The public must be informed of what the Government is doing through this legislation. I want to tell the people of the apartment block I referred to about the security of tenure and notice to quit provisions of the Bill. They are good provisions but I do not know if any of the media will carry reports on this legislation.