Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Maria McCormack (SF), Labour Panel

I am going to speak about a number of amendments put forward. I am going to choose to ignore the deflection from the other side. I want to ask specific questions on the amendment. To be fair, the Minister has done a lot of deflection here this morning as well. Every time I have asked a question, I have not got an answer.
I want to talk about County Laois. It is my constituency and where I know best. I have a voice for those people. We agree that this is a market reset from 1 March. Before then, it was only possible to increase rents by 2% annually. People with older agreements, who may only have been paying €900 a month, will now see their rents shoot up to the market rent. We know it will have a dramatic impact on them. They are not going to benefit from large private investment companies and big landlords coming to Laois. Can we be in agreement on this? Rural constituencies like Laois are not going to see anything from this change. They are just going to be further screwed. They are going to get their rents hiked up and will get nothing in return.
I would love to get an answer from the Minister on how he thinks this is going to increase supply outside the big cities. I accept that maybe big landlords, big property developers and vulture funds will benefit. We saw the Government vote down the proposal on vulture funds yesterday evening. The Government is happy and is supporting big landlords and big vulture funds. We know this is the Bill to do it. Our proposed amendment simply asks for a report within three months on what the Government is going to do for the RTB. The Government says it is collaborating with it, but this legislation is giving security of tenure for six years. If you actually listen to the facts, though, we know - Shep, the dog on the street, knows it at this stage because we have all been saying it here - that the average tenancy is three and half years. What the hell does six years matter? I want honest answers to the actual questions asked.
The Government is ramming this through and we are telling it that it is wrong. We really feel there were better ways to do this, and do not tell me we do not have plans. I have a 114-page plan from Deputy Eoin Ó Broin. The Minister knows I could put it in front of him now. The Minister knows there are plans and that there is no point in saying, "Sinn Féin this and Sinn Féin that". Sinn Féin is not in government. The Minister and his colleagues are in government and they are just throwing renters under the bus. Can the Minister honestly say rents are not going to go up and by an enormous amount? What about these people paying €900 in rent now who are going to be paying €2,000? The Minister knows this is going to happen.
Let us bring this debate back to talking about the Bill, the amendments and the facts, because this is what we are here to discuss. The sooner the Minister actually takes the time to answer the questions, the sooner we can get through this. If he keeps on deflecting and if his party colleagues want to come in and keep slating Sinn Féin, we will stay here. I would like to get answers to the specific questions relating to why the Minister is not accepting the amendments and what he is actually saying about the damage he is doing to increasing rental supply where there are no plans. He knows the economic experts are saying this is not actually going to increase supply. I do not know who the Minister is listening to. If the Minister looks in his emails, he will see the messages from the Simon Communities in Ireland and Focus Ireland. I would like some proper answers.

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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