I am speaking to the amendment.

Yes.

Strictly to the amendments, and in terms of the seven days-----

I simply want to know-----

I simply want to know-----

Simply on the amendment-----

Yes.

Yes.

This is our only opportunity to raise a question on this, so simply on amendment No. 3 and the seven days, it is the case that tenants and renters have other things going on in their lives. They can be caring for family members, dealing with sickness, they can have work commitments and they could be away. A seven-day limit for them to accept this offer will cut many people out, especially more vulnerable renters and tenants. That will, presumably, give an advantage to landlords on this. The fact there is no explana…

I take my responsibility in terms of scrutinising the Bill and the amendments very seriously. While the overall thrust of the amendments is welcome, as are most of the measures, there is a flaw in what is being put forward in terms of the provision of a seven-day limit rather than 21 days. That will be unworkable for many people. It may be an unintended flaw in these amendments. I do not know if that is the case because no rationale whatsoever has been given for it. We have been given no information on it or why th…

I was just finishing my contribution.

That will be my last word on it if the Acting Chairman lets me sit down.

Not at all. That will be my last word on the matter if I am allowed to sit down.

I agree with both Deputies. There is an issue that councils are turning people who are homeless away from emergency accommodation now in different parts of the country. We have been asking for several weeks now for statements on An Bord Pleanála. The Remy Farrell report that has been ordered has been extended, but there is no clarity as to why it has been extended or exactly what it is covering. We do not know, in terms of the long list of allegations that have been made and are in the public domain, which are bein…

The community and voluntary sector play a very significant role in the well-being of our communities. Due to changes in the tendering process for employment services, community-run job clubs are closing in several areas. These have provided invaluable support over many decades. These projects were funded 100% by grants and have no surplus of funds built up. They cannot pay out redundancy to staff. There is no grant funding to pay for these redundancies. This means there will be costly and expensive wind-up processe…

What redress is available to tenants who make a complaint to the Residential Tenancies Board about breaches of their tenancy rights when they relate to a tenancy with an unregistered landlord or a landlord who fails to provide an address? There is a significant issue of the RTB being ineffective in dealing with cases in which the tenant does not have proof of his or her landlord's address. Does the RTB have sufficient power and resources to take action against rogue landlords who do not register or those who do not…

I wrote to the Minister about this recently. Indeed, the Minister has been cc'd in correspondence on this since April. I detailed one instance, an example of hundreds of instances, in which the RTB is unwilling to progress a case against a landlord who is not registered. In that instance the problems began in November 2021, when the hot water in the building stopped working. Following a phone call from the RTB, the landlord retaliated by entering the renter's home without permission, ripping the curtains off the wa…

I thank the Minister of State for that response. I want to be very clear that this is just one example of hundreds. If one talks to Threshold or to anyone working in this area, there are hundreds of renters where the RTB will not help progress a case and will refuse point blank to do so if the landlord is not registered or if the renter cannot provide proof of the landlord’s address. It is utterly unacceptable that the RTB is refusing to help. What are the Minister of State and the Government going to do to sort th…

I welcome that these statements are taking place. It is more than 25 years since I attended my first Pride march. It was 26 years ago, which is hard for me to believe in many ways. Much has changed in Irish society since then and much has changed for LGBTQI+ people. That said, while some things have changed massively for us, some things have remained quite the same. The Pride march has gone from thousands of people to tens of thousands of people participating. It has become one of the largest events that takes plac…

I want to read the Minister an email I received recently. In the email, the person who contacted me says: I'm 36 years old, working in a full-time job as an IT professional for a global multinational. I have savings and continue to put as much of my salary away as I can afford. Although I earn above the median income and have a stable job, I am forced to share a house with 5 other full time working professionals aged from late 20s to early 40s. Our rental house is owned by a global hedge fund. For each of us the pr…