Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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258. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider introducing legislation to halt evictions from family homes until solutions to the housing crisis are in place. [17227/16]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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259. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he has considered urgently legislating for a moratorium on family home evictions until such time as a reasoned solution to the family housing crisis is formulated by the Houses of the Oireachtas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17236/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 258 and 259 together.

The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented residential sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. Security of tenure under the Act is based on rolling four-year tenancy cycles. Where a tenant has been in occupation of a dwelling for a continuous period of 6 months and no notice of termination has been served in respect of that tenancy before the expiry of the period of 6 months, the tenancy is established for the remainder of the four year period. This is referred to in the Act as a ‘Part 4’ tenancy.

A landlord may not terminate a Part 4 tenancy except on clearly defined grounds which are set out in the Table to section 34 of the Act. These grounds include that the landlord intends to sell the dwelling, that the landlord wishes to change the use of the dwelling, and that the landlord requires the dwelling for a family member.

Amendments introduced in the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 strengthen the protections around tenancy terminations by providing for measures that will guard against, for example, landlords falsely declaring that the property is needed for a family member, or that it is going to be sold. In addition, the Act provides for graduated increases in the notice periods that must be given to tenants of the termination of a tenancy so that a landlord must now give a tenant up to a maximum of 224 days’ notice for tenancies of 8 years or more.

Housing is an absolute priority for this Government and, accordingly, a key priority of the Programme for a Partnership Governmentis the preparation and publication of an ‘Action Plan for Housing’ within the Government’s first 100 days. The Action Plan will be drafted with input from a number of key Departments, and will draw on the Report of the Special Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness, which published its final report on the 17 June 2016. This plan will map out a vision for the evolution of the entire housing sector over the coming years, including the rental sector where over one-fifth of our population now resides.

For the rental sector specifically, the Programme for a Partnership Governmentcontains a specific commitment to review the regulatory regime for the rented sector to ensure that an appropriate balance is struck between the rights, interests and responsibilities of both tenants and landlords. The Action Plan for Housing will also contain a commitment to publish a strategy for the rental sector this Autumn. This strategy will chart a path for the future of the rental sector. It will also list the wide ranging actions this Government will take to achieve a mature and stable rented sector which will appropriately balance the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants, protect the rights of vulnerable tenants, reflect our changing patterns of housing demand and support continued recovery for our modern economy.