Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for taking this matter in respect of which I seek clarification on upward-only rent reviews. Fianna Fáil has published a Bill dealing with the issue of upward-only rent reviews, which is within the bounds of the Constitution. As the Minister of State will know, upward-only rent reviews are crippling many businesses. Those tenants are fighting their landlords to try to stay in business and reduce their costs. Rents are falling all around Dublin and throughout the country, yet landlords are enforcing the lease clauses requiring upward-only rent reviews.

We have examined this issue on the basis that we must stay within the bounds of the requirement within the Constitution to protect people's private property and their interests in it. There was a commitment to address this issue in the programme for Government and in the manifestos of the two parties in government. The Fine Gael Party manifesto states that it would commit to end upward-only rent reviews. It also states, "We will pass legislation to give to all tenants the right to have their commercial rents reviewed in 2011 irrespective of any upward only or other review clauses." The programme for Government states, "We will legislate to end upward-only rent reviews for existing leases."

When Deputy Alan Shatter became the Minister for Justice and Equality he said this would take a few months. On 5 May he informed the Dáil that legislation on the issue was being developed and that he was in ongoing consultation with the Attorney General. In July he said that the matter was still with the Attorney General and in the 2012 budget the entire commitment was dropped. Retail Excellence Ireland, an independent group not beholden to any political party, said the Government lied to every retail outlet in the country. If the legislation we put forward is within the bounds of the Constitution, why is the Attorney General stating that this cannot be done?