Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will take this opportunity to speak on amendments Nos. 13 and 14. We want to see people get a little more protection during the winter months and the timeframe set out by the Bill. The longer a tenancy is, the longer the notice-to-quit period. There are two notice-to-quit periods, one of 196 days and one of 224 days, depending on whether someone has been a tenant for less than or more than seven years. For someone who gets a notice on 2 November, the 196 days will last until the end of the winter period so the tenant gets no protection whatsoever from this Bill while others get extra protections into May or even June. Our amendments, Nos. 13 and 14, do not seek to extend the emergency period but give people who get a notice to quit just before or just after the introduction of this Bill a little bit of extra time because they will struggle to find somewhere within that six-month period. We believe this extra time would be reasonable.