Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the groups present in the Visitors Gallery. In particular, I would mention members of the Threshold organisation, the Peter McVerry Trust, Clúid, the Union of Students in Ireland, the Simon Communities and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive. I would specifically mention, if it is appropriate, the presence of Mr. Tom Dunne, who was the chair of the original commission on the private rented residential sector and chair of the Private Residential Tenancy Board for many years. I would also mention members of the Private Residential Tenancy Board. I would further mention Mr. Brendan Whelan who was a particular champion of the deposit protection scheme.

The passing of this legislation through the Seanad today is a very poignant moment for me personally, particularly as chair of Threshold, for a number of reasons. One in five Irish families live in the rented sector today. Threshold as a organisation has been champion for the private rented sector for a significant number of years. Many of the measures included in this legislation are measures for which Threshold has campaigned over a long period.

Much of the media attention has been given to the measures relating to rent, which strike a fair and balanced response to the current emergency situation where a significant number of people are living in homeless accommodation, particularly in the Dublin region and where we are heading towards having 1,000 families living in such accommodation. There are other measures in this legislation that may have been lost sight of, and the Minister of State mentioned them. The one to which I want to refer is the deposit protection scheme. The retention of deposits is a significant hidden cause of homelessness. An average deposit is in the region of €1,000. Very few low income families, or very few families in any event, can afford to lose €1,000. The issue of deposit retention has dogged the rented sector for many years, particularly since the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Act in 2004. This issue has undermined the work of the Private Residential Tenancies Board but this measure and the setting up of a deposit protection scheme will enable the board to move forward in a progressive way.

I welcome the legislation to bring the approved housing bodies under the regulation of the Private Residential Tenancies Board and I hope in time that measure will be extended to local authority households also because it is not appropriate to have a scenario where an authority acts as judge and jury over its own tenants. The idea that there is an independent dispute resolution process available that is cheap and speedy, as the legislation sets out, is important not only for private rented tenants but for all tenants.

The number of illegal evictions in 2004 when the Residential Tenancies Bill was passed by this Chamber stood at 271 and that was the number of the illegal evictions sought the services of Threshold. It is sad to say that in 2013 and 2014 that number rose to 651. In regard to issues such as minimum standards, the number of cases has increased tenfold, from 386 to almost 3,000. We have not reached the end of the line in terms of reform of the rented sector.

The one call I would make today is for a long-term strategy for the rented sector. One in five households depend on rented housing for their accommodation and we need to move forward. We need to tackle supply and to make it a long-term realistic option for people to live their lives with the kind of dignity and certainty that they deserve.