Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. Hopefully Senator Ward will be here by then. If not, I will give way to my colleague. The Minister of State is very welcome.

This is an important Bill but I agree with other colleagues that a clear message needs to go out from this House that there are protections for tenants. There are significant rights in place for tenants. Tenants being thrown out of the places in which they are living is not tolerated in this country. It does not happen and should not happen. When Covid hit, we introduced legislation to ensure that evictions would not happen during the pandemic. Our being back here today is testament to the fact that this Government takes its housing responsibilities seriously, wants to protect tenants and does so.

I also agree with my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, and others regarding incidental landlords. These are people who probably should not be classed as landlords. They bought properties with every good intention and their rights need to be respected and protected as well. It is called fairness and it is a very simple thing. The system has to be fair to everybody, protect people and be fair to people. It should protect tenants and citizens who happen to have a second home, which they make available and rent to tenants. It is about equity and fairness. The Minister of State does what he can and he and his predecessor have done what they needed to do to protect tenants. I think Senator Ward is here now.