Victor Boyhan (Independent)

I welcome the Minister. I do not think I have had the opportunity since he became Minister to welcome him and wish him well. I have served two terms on the Oireachtas joint committee on housing. With regard to Rebuilding Ireland and Housing for All, we have just talked them out. I know there are challenges and difficulties. I am not going to be a hurler on the ditch, hurl abuse and say everyone is failing because they are not. There are so many facets to the whole housing issue and I genuinely wish the Minister well with it.

Before I move on to the substantive issue I want to talk about, I ask the Minister to confirm before leaving the Chamber that he has devolved functions to his Ministers of State. The Minister has a big task and challenge. It is about collaboration in policy but it is also about collaboration in his Department. The Minister has a formidable team of Ministers of State around him. I ask him to confirm that their devolved functions have been signed off and they are fully aware of what is expected of them in terms of putting shoulders to the wheel in implementing Government policy. That is really important.

I want to pick up on my colleague Senator McCarthy's point about the information deficit. There needs to be an information strategy within the next week or two on how we communicate this message. There are so many mixed messages. People have different agendas and there is a lot of misinformation out there. The Minister is the key driver in terms of his credibility. I appreciate that a lot of this is on his head and it is not easy, but it is essential that he meet with the communications strategists in his Department within days to get a really clear line of messages out on that.

I am supportive of many aspects of the Bill. We could argue about it being emergency legislation or about what we have been doing for the last few weeks. I am not going down that road but I want to raise the issue of students and the media coverage of what the Minister said with regard to students. The Minister can correct me if I am wrong but students in private rental accommodation will not have any additional protection under this legislation, with regard to new rental market rules. That is simple and factual and has been confirmed. Tenancies after March 2026 will be subject to a six-year tenancy agreement and landlords will be allowed to reset the rents on market rates after six years.That is factually correct too. Concerns are being raised in relation to students who rent for a limited period. The Minister knows why there is a limited period for students in respect of renting. They cannot afford to take the long-term rental commitments for the academic year, so it is tied into the academic year in most cases. We have to look at trainee nurses, trainee doctors and young An Garda Síochána recruits. There are difficulties with these professions in the city of Dublin and other parts, so that is a challenge we need to focus on. While we have not red-circled those or particular areas or groups, where do we draw the line? The Minister said that too, and I understand that. However, these groups will be subject to regular hikes in rent - that is the reality - and particularly students.

It was reported in the Irish Independent on Tuesday that the Minister had said that while measure would be looked at for student-specific accommodation, measures for students in the private market would not be introduced. In the same article, he is also quoted as saying, “We're working out issues around students while working over the bill.” However, he went on to say, “However, in the private rental sector, as it is at the moment, there won't be any special measures put in [place], in terms of the private rental sector [for these people].” That is very disappointing. I know the challenges. I know where the Minister’s hands are tied. However, these are students and trainees who cannot afford accommodation. We have an issue there, and I ask the Minister to look at it.

I will finish on this point. There are many forms of students. There are students in the academic universities who cannot secure accommodation internally on campus but are using private student accommodation as well as ordinary private accommodation. Student nurses contacted my office yesterday expressing serious concerns. Young trainee members of An Garda Síochána and young people in our Defence Forces are competing for accommodation in the private sector, given not many of them are living on campus as such. That is an issue and a challenge. I ask the Minister to take it on board.

The Minister confirmed all of that. I sought out the source of that article and it raises some concerns. However, the Minister is honest, and I have to admire that. He laid it out fairly and squarely. There is a challenge in that, though, and he has to do something about it.