Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for the amendments. I think we are in danger of trying to fix the massively dysfunctional environment of the private rented market in an emergency piece of legislation. The Minister has accepted it and I believe he is committed to trying to fix the systemic problems around supply, the provision of public and affordable housing and security of tenure, of which Senator Higgins spoke.

I welcome the Minister's commitment on the cost-rental model. That legislation is long overdue. As a city councillor, I and my colleagues have been pushing for that for a couple of years. We need to get to a point where people can have a reasonable expectation of having security of tenure and affordable homes.

We need to get this legislation through as an immediate and urgent matter but I am concerned we will create a new residential housing policy that will not meet all our needs, will be inadequate and will not address the issue of affordable rents. We absolutely need affordable rents, which need to be State-provided, secure and to provide security of tenure and affordability. We need to get this through today and not get bogged down in trying to fix all the problems, of which there are myriad. I want these issues addressed and have raised them at the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We have a large work programme at that committee and I and others have put these matters into that programme. However, if we try to fix it all here today, we will not make any progress and the clock is ticking.