Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Daly raised the issue of home repossession rates and other matters relating to housing. As I mentioned yesterday, the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill will come before the House on Committee Stage next week. We will be able to debate all the proposals that have been mentioned over the last number of days on housing and rents. I will allow as much time as possible to complete Committee Stage of the Bill on Tuesday, 17 November. If it goes too late, we will continue on Wednesday, 18 November and we will get it out of the way and have Report Stage on Tuesday, 24 November. We will hopefully have it out of this House by Tuesday and I am sure the Dáil will deal with it expeditiously within a number of days and that the Bill will be enacted.

On the issue of landlords increasing rent, there are some unscrupulous landlords that may put up their prices but there is an obligation on them to give 28 days' notice to tenants if they do so. Perhaps this legislation will be enacted within 28 days. That remains to be seen but I want to point that out to Members.

Senator Daly raised the question of gardaí taking leave of absence which was also raised by other Senators. The Senator mentioned that approximately 1,000 gardaí were on leave of absence. I hope he is not suggesting that they are not entitled to leave of absence-----