Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-11
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

First, I acknowledge the presence of our good friend, H.E. Dennis King from Canada, and articulate our deepest sympathies to the people of Tumbler Ridge and to Canada more generally on the appalling murder of nine innocent victims yesterday. Our hearts, prayers and thoughts are with the entire community.
I also appreciate and welcome the attendance in the Public Gallery of people from Donegal in respect of the only flight from the county, which is subsidised substantially by the State. Obviously, the Minister for Transport does not get involved in the contract itself in terms of engaging with the contractor. Deputy Gallagher has been extremely active in pressing this issue with the Minister and me from its very first iteration. We are endeavouring to do everything we possibly can legally to try to respond to the needs of the people of Donegal, particularly those who travel for cancer treatment. The Government wants to do everything it possibly can within the law. We will continue to work on behalf of people to enable us to do that.
Regarding the rental reforms, I disagree fundamentally with the Deputy's proposition. In the first instance, we should remember the origin of the Bill was the Housing Commission. I recall Sinn Féin and others saying we ignored the Housing Commission. The commission recommended a reform of the rent pressure zones, coming up with an idea around reference pricing, which it did not detail, and so on. The Housing Agency was then asked to review the rent pressure zones, which it did, and it recommended the nature of the changes the Minister has introduced in terms of the reform of the rent pressure zones, which will give stability, clarity and certainty to renters and landlords into the future.
According to the census, there could be up to 500,000 people renting, from social renting to private tenancies, and up to 240,000 more private tenancies. Those existing tenancies will not be impacted by the Bill. That is the first thing I have to say. There are very important protections, which the Deputy has deliberately ignored, in respect of these measures. The six-year provision gives a security we never had before in this country and aligns us more with European rental systems in terms of giving tenants greater security and greater protection. Dr. Michael Byrne from the school of social policy, social work and social justice at UCD has noted that what is being missed in the current discussion is that the new legislation is designed, once established, to reduce the level of notices of termination. We are now moving to the ending of no-fault evictions.
The ESRI also recommended reform of the rental system. Everybody did, but someone has to make a decision here. The Minister and the Government have taken a decision-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-11