Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 (Section 4(2)) (Scheme Termination Date) Order 2026: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-24 ============================================================ Malcolm Noonan (GP), Agricultural Panel I welcome the Minister of State. I will be supporting the Government motion. I join my colleague Senator Ahearn in reflecting on the horror of the ongoing war in Ukraine. It has not dissipated. Many people living in Ukrainian cities have experienced one of the worst winters they have ever had, with attacks on energy infrastructure, extreme cold and ongoing bombardment and destruction caused by Putin and the Russian army. We can be proud of our response to date to the war in Ukraine. The measure under discussion was one of the good ones introduced by the Government and I welcome the extension of it. I urge that when a decision has to be made about winding it up, that be done on a phased basis over time. I reject the suggestion that the scheme is having a distorting effect on the rental market. There is research from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the RTB on the impact of the ARP scheme on the private rental market. That research, which has not been published, would be welcome and useful to have in the public arena. There is no published evidence to indicate the ARP has significantly distorted the private rental market. In fact, the Irish Research Council host survey found that 91% of hosts were not previously landlords registered with the RTB. Further, the proposed Government legislation will most likely preclude RTB-registered properties from being eligible for the ARP, further reducing interference with the private rental market. The ARP provides a monthly tax-free payment of €600, equating to €7,200 annually. Seventy-one percent of beneficiaries of temporary protection live in the same properties as their hosts. Under the rent-a-room scheme, a homeowner could rent out a room for up to €1,166 per month, or €14,000 annually, tax free. Comparatively, the ARP remains a less lucrative option in cases of shared accommodation. There are almost 42,000 people benefiting and living in 23,000 properties. There are still 20,000 people living in State-provided accommodation who will continue to have challenges in finding ARP hosts. There is evidence that there have been requests for unregulated top-up payments since the ARP was reduced from €800 to €600. That is something the Government should be mindful of. I ask that there be no cliff edge in relation to this. We have to monitor the situation in Ukraine as the war evolves but there should not be a cliff edge for hosts or Ukrainian families living in accommodation. We should consider broadening the scope of the scheme to benefit other cohorts, such as people exiting direct provision who find themselves at high risk of homelessness. We should also give consideration to applying the new 30-day designated accommodation centre policy on a needs basis as opposed to strictly by date of arrival. This could include assistance provision to the less vulnerable to support them in accessing employment and finding accommodation within the community to allow bed space for those most in need. I request that exceptions are made for the most vulnerable to remain to in State-provided accommodation. I also ask for a planned and phased transition away from the ARP. However, I wholeheartedly support this motion, and I know the Cross-Party Group will support it as well. --- 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/2026-03-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:46+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-24