Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State here today to discuss issues relating to the protection of renters. It so happens that two weeks ago Sinn Féin introduced a Private Members' motion in the House. I and my colleagues argued for increased protections for renters and immediate steps to be taken to reduce rents and prevent an increase of rents for three years. During that debate, I was assured by Government Senators that Sinn Féin had got it wrong and that the Government was busy working away on a raft of legislation that would strengthen protection for renters. A Senator said that the Government parties understood the crisis and that they would tackle it, "not through sloganeering or motions, but by doing the hard work of legislating". To be honest, what dawned on me in that debate was that I was one of the few people here whose friends were all renters. The Government amendment talked about legislation for tenancies of indefinite duration and the Housing for All policy which will be launched later this year.

Then we get this Bill which is rushed and unambitious. If one were to ask any renter if he or she would prefer the measure in my party's motion two weeks ago or more of this type of legislation from Government, I wonder what the renter's preference would be. It seems strange that the Government says it is listening to the concerns of renters yet it misses the point every time it brings forward legislation on this subject.

Put simply, this is the latest dilution of the initial protection measures introduced in the first lockdown last year. Since the Minister was appointed, he has picked away at protections in a rushed and unco-operative manner. All Stages of this Bill were rushed through the Dáil this week. It will be finished here in the Seanad on Monday but our amendments were due to be in before the Second Stage debate. Pre-legislative scrutiny for this Bill was mentioned. That was waived by a vote of Government parties at the committee last week. The last time housing legislation was introduced in the Seanad, it was done in order to bypass pre-legislative scrutiny at the committee. Many in the Seanad felt that was a disingenuous move to outwit the committee.

The Bill deals with a series of deadlines everybody was aware of. The most urgent is the protection for renters who are in arrears because of Covid-19 with that protection due to run out at the end of April. We knew this deadline was approaching yet again we waited until the last minute to do anything. This is unfair on officials in the Department, on staff in the Oireachtas, especially in the Bills Office, and on the committee, and it reduces the calibre of debate and discussion that can take place.

I wonder why the end of July was chosen as the date to extend the eviction ban. Most people who have lost employment because of restrictions are unlikely to see their situation improve before then. They are unlikely to return to employment. These are the type of questions that could have been asked of officials and of the Minister and the Minister of State had the necessary pre-legislative scrutiny taken place.

Of course, I want to see the deadline extended and I have submitted amendments to do this. Why did the Minister not introduce a Bill to extend the Covid-related protections to what are a small group of people and have another Bill deal with the more general issue of arrears? We are talking, in section 1, about a very small group of people. According to the RTB, tenant self-declarations number 407. That is the number of people we are dealing with in section 1. According to the RTB, a small group of people have availed of this protection.In reality, the Bill protects a very small number of renters and strips protections from many more. The Government is taking away protections from many more people than it is extending them for.

Rent arrears are real and the issue is not going away. A total of 2,401 warning letters have been sent to tenants in arrears since August 2020 according to the RTB. Does the Government have any plans to introduce legislation to deal with the issue of arrears in general?

Sinn Féin wants to see the extension of the ban on evictions and rent increases for tenants in arrears due to loss of income and on a Covid-19 social welfare payment until the end of the year, at least.

Rent in Ireland rose by 2.7% in last year to an average of €1,256 per month. When the pandemic eases, the issue of rent will still need to be addressed. The Minister's record does not instil renters with much confidence, and it is little wonder that renters increasingly see Sinn Féin’s plan as the only viable strategy to give renters a break.