Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Joanne Collins (SF), Agricultural Panel

I will be brief. The amendment is sensible and would provide more staff to the RTB for when this potential disaster hits. When many immigrants came into the country, the International Protection Office was understaffed and could not keep up with the number of applications. We saw what that did. People were giving out and protesting on the streets. There is no protection for renters in the Bill. As I said yesterday, the entire Bill needs to be dumped.
I ask the Minister to at least accept the amendment and have staff in place to help residents when they need to go to the RTB and ensure they will not wait for months or years for a case to be examined. At least put that small amount of protection into the Bill. Consider what would happen if I entered a new tenancy agreement after 1 March for a house that had been built 60 years ago, which had dampness and was not A or B rated. If Senator Tully rented a house that was brand new and we both paid the same rent, I would go to the RTB about it. I do not see why I should have to live in something that may potentially have mould or dampness and pay the exact same rent as somebody down the road just because we both took out leases after 1 March.
The RTB will be filled with complaints. Let us pre-empt that. We have developed flood defences systems in this country to pre-empt a flood. There could be the could be a flood of cases to the RTB. It is a very simple amendment which the Minister could accept to show that he might be in favour of helping these renters in one way or another.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19