Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I note that today marks the funeral of Pierre Zakrzewski, who was an Irish citizen and journalist murdered by Russian forces in Ukraine a few weeks ago. Today is the day of his funeral. He was educated at St. Conleth's College, approximately a mile from the House. He discharged his function has a journalist with great bravery until he was murdered by Russian soldiers as part of Vladimir Putin's murderous, illegal and criminal invasion of Ukraine. It is important this House notes the occasion. An Irish citizen was murdered by the Russians. We should never forget who was responsible for this and who took the decision to unleash that savagery on the people of Ukraine. To all of Mr. Zakrzewki's friends in Ireland, I express my deepest sympathy and condolence.

I raise the need for a debate in this House on the provision of private rented dwellings. A foolish decision was made last year when it was decided that all tenancies which last more than six months should become tenancy contracts of indefinite duration. This came from a Department that is blighted by making stupid decisions. The same Department wiped out bedsits with a four-year delayed proposal when then Minister, former Deputy John Gormley, was in charge. That was a so-called reform in the interests of improving the standards of tenancy accommodation. We now have shared accommodation, which reverses the entire thrust of that initiative.

The point I want to make is that if anyone wants to know why private landlords are now deserting the rental market in droves, it is because we have stupidly and at the behest of the same Department introduced a law to the effect that all tenancies which last more than six months cannot be terminated except on one of four statutory grounds. The consequence of that is that people who simply wanted to let a house for five years with no questions asked and no reasons given, one way or another, cannot do so anymore. They must have one of the statutory grounds for evicting their tenant in the long run, whether their relationship with the tenant is good or bad, or antagonistic, no matter whose fault the antagonism is. Those landlords are stuck with those tenants forever unless one of the four statutory grounds exists. I am not a slave to market ideology, but we intervene in markets at our peril. We did this with bedsits and we saw the consequences when 10,000 to 15,000 dwellings for the most vulnerable of people were annihilated. Now, we are doing the same again. We are driving private landlords out on the presupposition that they are all in the same category as real estate investment trusts investing billions of euro in Ireland and that they can take tenancies of unlimited duration in their stride. They will not. As a consequence, a very serious mistake has been made. I ask the Deputy Leader to ask the Minister to come back to the House to explain why it is necessary to have contracts of indefinite duration and what the consequences of that have been for the supply of private rented dwellings owned by private landlords.