Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-12 ============================================================ Pat Casey (FF), Labour Panel I welcome the Minister to the House. I will speak openly and try not to get lost in the nuts and bolts of the legislation because this issue reaches into every corner of our community. It is not just legislation or lines in a document. It is about our neighbours, families and young people trying to find and keep a place they can truly call home. For years, we have watched the rental system strain under the pressure. We have seen families forced to move and move again. We have seen young adults pushed further and further away from the place they grew up. We have also seen landlords, many of them small, local, ordinary people, feel uncertain about their future in the market. No one has been winning in this situation. That is why the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill matters. It does not pretend there is a simple fix. Instead, it takes on the challenge honestly. It strengthens protections for tenants because people deserve stability, dignity and fairness. It gives renters clearer rights and stronger safeguards so they can build their lives without fear of sudden upheaval. That stability is not a luxury. It is the foundation of a healthy community. There is another part that is just as important. The Bill also recognises that we cannot protect tenants if we do not have enough homes. We all know what happens when supply dries up. Rent rises, competition intensifies and people get squeezed out. This Bill gives clarity and confidence to those who are providing houses. It avoids pushing landlords away and creating a system so rigid that it scares off the very people who build and maintain the homes we rely on. We need to be honest about something else. For far too long, housing policy has been shaped by fear of upsetting one group or another or of taking a decision that might not please everyone. Leadership is not about pleasing everyone. It is about doing what is right, even when it is difficult. This Bill reflects that. It recognises that tenants deserve stronger protections but it also recognises that landlords deserve certainty and fairness too. It acknowledges that if we want a functional rental market, we cannot afford to lose either side. This is the balance we need. We do not need a system that pits tenants against landlords but one that brings both sides into a fair and workable partnership. The truth is that we simply need each other. Tenants need homes, landlords need certainty and our community needs both. Some will say the Bill should go further in one direction or the other but the truth is that political and ideological extremes have held us back for far too long. We have heard some of that in here today. We all hear the arguments that any regulation will drive landlords away or that any support for supply is somehow a concession to vested interests. These positions might make loud headlines but they do not build homes or solve problems. Real progress happens in the space between the two extremes. That is exactly where this Bill sits. It is measured and constructive and recognises that housing is both a social need and an economic system. If we ignore either side, we fail the people we are here to serve. I will say clearly that I welcome the approach the Minister, Deputy Browne, has taken not only on this legislation but in other difficult decisions he and his colleagues have been willing to make. At a time when others call for easy answers and dramatic gestures, they have chosen the harder path, the middle ground, the practical ground and the ground on which real solutions are actually delivered. That commitment to balance deserves recognition because it is exactly what our housing system needs right now. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-12/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:37+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-12