Residential Tenancies and Valuation Bill 2020: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2020-07-31
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Eugene Murphy (FF), Agricultural Panel

There is very little time to express everything I want to say but nevertheless I will abide by the time constraints. The legislation seeks to protect both landlords and tenants. I do not own any property and neither does my family, but we must accept that we need landlords in the system. As has already been stated, many people are left houses by parents, uncles or aunts. Such people will say that renting property out is a nightmare, particularly if they cannot sell it on.
In the few seconds I have left, I wish to say that homelessness is a blight on our society. Whether one is in a rural meeting in County Roscommon or a meeting in inner city Dublin, one can see that it upsets people. We all have a responsibility to deal with the matter more effectively than we have in the past. That is why I want to acknowledge the contribution of every Member here. Many valid points have been made.
At the moment, we are in a crisis but this is an ongoing situation. I welcome the Minister of State and wish him well. I hope that we will be able to use his Roscommon connections to solve all our housing problems. This is an ongoing situation and it is particularly difficult at present. I acknowledge that we will all have to do better when this crisis hopefully comes to an end. We will all have to do things differently to ensure that tenants are not pushed out onto the roadside or forced to live in a hotel room or, as has been known to happen, in the back of a van. That is upsetting to everyone and it must change. I am sorry my time is so limited. I welcome this Bill. It will give some protection to tenants.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-07-31