Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The rental market in this State is dysfunctional. Many monthly rental payments in urban centres are higher than mortgage repayments. The rent pressure zone legislation has failed and the Government has failed to articulate a plan for the disorderly exit of landlords from the market. We have said time and again that we need a three-year ban on rent increases. We need a refundable tax credit to put one month's rent back in the pocket of every renter in the State and we need tenancies of indefinite duration.We need to remove terminations on the grounds of the sale of property, renovation of property, use by a family member and use by a landlord for all new and renewed tenancies.

This Bill is welcome, however small the number of tenants that it protects. The problem is that too many people are excluded. We need the kind of protections that we see in the Bill to be extended to every renter in the State until at least the end of the year. Why? It is because the Residential Tenancies Board has said that since August, over 1,000 eviction notices have been issued and 3,800 rent arrears notices have been issued in the same period. I take this opportunity to remind the House that 475 renters have availed of the Covid-19 declaration that we are discussing today, so just 12.5% of people are being protected. That says to me that the protections are too weak and that the policy is weak so we and the Government need to do better for renters. We need to re-introduce the original ban on rent increases, notices to quit and evictions until the end of the year at least.

I welcome the permanent changes in the legislation that limit deposits to one month's rent. This is a good legislative amendment. The changes to notice periods for students in student-specific accommodation is also extremely welcome. I commend the Union of Students of Ireland, USI, and the Opposition in the Dáil who campaigned for this reform. The idea that students paid either three months' rent, six months' rent or more in advance was brought into very sharp focus when students could not get their money back when they did not avail of their accommodation during Covid-19. I commend the Minister for listening and acting on those calls. In the upcoming budget and legislation there needs to be a sea-change in terms of helping tenants, protecting them and ensuring that they have security and certainty.