Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin

I second what Senator Higgins said. It is incredibly cowardly to put out staff, whom no one has mentioned, to hide behind. "Oh, the poor staff." The front people are those who have no houses. They are the priority. We have to create legislation that keeps people safe and does not see people back out on the streets. We cannot say, "Oh, the poor staff. What are you saying about them?" We are legislators. We are discussing legislation. We are not discussing individual people in their jobs. If you put something in black and white in the law, it can be used. The Government is putting staff in a more difficult position.
I worked in homeless accommodation for many years. You make decisions as a team. You have discretion. You know how to put someone out if they are a danger to anybody else, if there has been a fight or the use of weapon. We have been doing it for years. Now the legislation states that if people refuse an offer, they have to be put out. Are the staff who are providing emergency supports breaking the law if they do not put them out? I know it states "may". It is fair enough that it states "may". However, it exists and people will want to use that measure. Hopefully they will not be a majority, but people will want to use it.
This does not need to exist. We are going from emergency accommodation to night-by-night accommodation. I do not understand how any Department would want to risk having people on the streets. I cannot turn any which way without some news outlet or media outlet talking about the inner city, O'Connell Street and people congregating here and there. We are now creating a scenario. We are saying we can remove people's emergency support if they do not take this and we may, therefore, increase the number of people on the streets because it is most likely going to be night-by-night accommodation. It will most likely not be in the daytime. When you are in the night-to-night accommodation, it is 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. This legislation will increase the number of people who are on the streets and without a home, waiting for a bed to know where they will sleep, if this coercive measure does not work. It does not make any sense. It is neither compassionate nor humane. It is really risky.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14