Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel

We would have been willing to stay here for the evening if necessary to debate these amendments. I am in favour of amendment No. 7. I am not sure if anyone in the House saw a report launched this week called Renting on the Island of Ireland. It is a piece of comparative research commissioned by Threshold and it highlighted the insecurity tenants face in the Republic. Only 10% of them said they were renting by choice and the worry about evictions was clearly noted. There were dramatic differences with younger cohorts, with 61% of under-35s in the Republic concerned about termination of tenancy, compared with 23% in Northern Ireland, which is obviously also a high figure. Two issues that were dominant among tenants' feelings of uncertainty were unaffordable rents and rent increases and the fear of landlord-initiated terminations. I encourage people to read the report.
We opposed this Bill in general but there were very sensible amendments put down to try to ameliorate the legislation, make it better and make it more workable in whatever way we could for tenants and it is regrettable we did not get to have a full debate in the Seanad today.

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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