Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Christopher O'Sullivan (FF), Cork South-West

There is absolutely no indication that this will happen. I do not know where the Senator is getting that from. I will certainly not be going back to my constituents in Cork South-West with that type of scaremongering.
Senators spoke about the legislation being rushed through, hammered through and so on. We knew this was coming last summer, and even prior to that. We knew of the date of 1 March at that time. This has not been just thought up and rushed through the Dáil. There was pre-legislative scrutiny in respect of this legislation. That is not rushing legislation through the Dáil. I just wanted to address that.
Senator Andrews talked about lobbying and the influence of big developers who have access to the Oireachtas. It is quite well known that the Sinn Féin housing spokesperson in the Oireachtas has a very long list according to the lobbying register. By the way, I do not criticise him for that. In order to get the solutions, we need to talk to as many people as possible. For example, we have gone out and spoken to the NGOs, including Threshold and the Simon Community. We need engagement at all levels. I do not know why this is being used as a political tool.
The Senator mentioned the idea of bringing down rents to drive up rents. The simple fact is that we have a population that is growing significantly. We do not have the supply of units to meet the demand that exists. That is why rents are increasing. We are bringing in a rent pressure zone nationally to ensure that we have those protections. We are bringing in this legislation to ensure there is supply. As I have said previously, the industry has reacted well to the potential for the delivery of units. That is something we welcome. While there has been a lot of commentary in this House today, there is also been a lot of positive commentary about this legislation that has not been mentioned. Senator Andrews mentioned rents in Dublin estates on quite a few occasions. If we talk about it honestly, Dublin will benefit more from this legislation than anywhere else-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18