Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am always amused when Senator Darragh O'Brien speaks slightly tongue in cheek. I do not wish to revisit anything that happened yesterday but we all know the only flaw in Senator Quinn's Bill related to the wise counsel of the Attorney General, which the Government wisely took on board. That said, and let us not argue, there is nothing preventing landlords and tenants taking into account market conditions. As a practising valuer, I have seen it happen and have engaged in it and I have seen rents held and rents move downwards. In the conditions we have faced over the past few years, commercial landlords were quite wise to try to hold on to tenants, as they did successfully in many cases, so let us be honest. This is a matter of the legal interpretation of a constitutional issue, so let us park it. The other House can deal with it now. That is all I have to say on the matter.