Deputy Boyd Barrett missed it so he will never know and I will never tell. It is true that the hopes and dreams of an entire generation of people who are locked into renting are resting on this Bill, on the measures therein and on the investment that will hopefully be brought forward. I was very struck during the election campaign by the number of people I met in my constituency in Donaghmede who told me about the affordable purchase homes they bought when they were younger as part of the newly-wed scheme, under wh…

Having heard the Minister's comments, I am more concerned now. I am particularly concerned about what the Minister said about the nuns not having any more involvement and that he is taking some assurance from that. We have been saying for some time that one of the key issues here is the company that has been set up by the nuns, with their ethos and values, and the role that company will play. It has been a key concern raised by people. I refer not to the nuns withdrawing, but to the manner in which they are withdra…

The Social Democrats support this Bill. We would like to see much stronger legislation but we will, nonetheless, support it. I want to strongly welcome the measures in the Bill which will provide some protection for all tenants as a result of the campaign run by the Union of Students in Ireland - Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn and following the Private Members’ Bill that was put forward by the Opposition, which the Minister has worked constructively on and acted on. I thank the Union of Students in Ireland - Aontas …

I move amendment No. 1: In page 4, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following: “ “deposit” means an amount of money paid or payable by the tenant or any other person as security for the observance and performance of any of the tenancy obligations of the tenant under the Act or under a tenancy agreement; but does not include any sum payable or paid by way of rent;”. This amendment to section 1 aims to provide a definition of the term "deposit", which is a key part of this Bill which is missing. As far as I am a…

I am willing to listen to what the Minister has said on this. Given his statements, I will not press the amendment.

Amendments Nos. 6, 8 and 9 are similar to those tabled by Deputy Duncan Smith, although they propose a different date. I would be happy with Deputy Duncan Smith's as alternatives if the Minister wishes to accept them as opposed to mine. Mine refer to the limited protections related to self-declaration by the 450 tenants. My proposals recognise that it will take time for incomes that have fallen due to Covid to recover in various sectors and for those who have built up debt over the Covid emergency to recover. The d…

To be fair, considering that a limited cohort of people has been able to avail of the protections, because the system is quite complex, the Minister knows well that some of the 455 people will still have issues paying rent due to a loss of income owing to Covid beyond the date in the Bill. It would be absolutely proportionate to have an extended timeframe for the limited protections for the limited cohort. That would be completely proportionate. The Minister has not put forward the case as to why it would not be. T…

If he is talking about reductions in the number becoming homeless, it would be fair for him to say what is correct, that is, that the number of families and children living in emergency homeless accommodation has, unfortunately and sadly, increased since the ban on evictions was lifted.

I move amendment No. 6: In page 4, line 15, to delete “12 January 2022” and substitute “12 July 2022”.

I move amendment No. 8: In page 4, line 17, to delete “12 January 2022” and substitute “12 July 2022”.

I move amendment No. 9: In page 4, line 19, to delete “13 January 2022” and substitute “13 July 2022”.

I am just speaking on amendment No. 12, which is about the potential voluntary opt-out for tenants from these protections. I understand there is a rationale for this. It has been explained as allowing for a situation where international students pay for accommodation and fees as a bundle or as a package. I agree with Deputy Ó Broin that this opt-out is wide open to exploitation in the interim while it is envisaged to bring more specific measures forward in the autumn to deal with this. I have a concern. I support t…

I move amendment No. 12: In page 5, to delete lines 18 to 22.

The cost of the pyrite remediation scheme will be more than €160 million and the cost of the mica redress scheme will be well over €1 billion. The potential cost of addressing fire safety defects and construction defects in apartments will run into well over €1 billion. The human cost for homeowners who through no fault of their own are living with the stress and anxiety of seeing their homes literally fall apart around them is measurable. The National Building Control and Market Surveillance Office, which checks a…

I want to add my voice to those of other Deputies. We need to be cognisant of the real and genuine fear in the aviation industry about the potential for thousands of job losses over the coming months. There is a genuine fear that this pandemic is being used by some companies in the aviation industry to effectively restructure, get rid of jobs with good terms and conditions and then seek to replace them in the future with lower pay and conditions. In terms of its approach, there is no way the Government can stand ba…

The Social Democrats strongly welcome and support this Bill. In life and in politics, we must look at what people do rather than what they say. That is true in respect of housing policy, in particular. It is not just the veteran trade unionist and housing activist, Mick O'Reilly, who has noticed that the Labour Party has consistently raised the implementation of the Kenny report while in opposition, and consistently forgotten about it while in government. Everybody who has taken an interest in the Kenny report has …

I appreciate the Government is looking at this matter and the Minister is working on it. The fact it has taken this long to get to the point where we might have a 100% redress scheme is not in any way acceptable. The Government supported the 90% scheme as an acceptable measure until this point and it demonstrates complete disregard for people and the stress and anxiety they are under. We are talking about their homes. I will comment on what the Tánaiste said about this recently. He said we must ask ourselves if it …

The report published last week has a number of quotes from children that I want to read into the record. A 12-year-old girl said, “Walking up to school you see all the rats ... they would be running up and down the walls of the trailer”. A 14-year-old girl said, “People ask why I’m dirty, but I’d be ashamed to say. I don’t want to say it was from walking out of the site”. A boy aged seven said, "We only play in puddles" while a 16-year-old girl said, “When you put your hands out of the bed in the mornings, the blan…

I agree with Deputy Canney's comments about the importance of local authorities and that it is nearly impossible for them to get approval for housing. If the Government is serious about building social housing, the very long process the authorities have to go through, which makes it very difficult, needs to be tackled. Anyone watching this debate who is in a housing crisis, and there are thousands of people in that situation, will be very worried that the Government is clearly saying it will not deal with this urge…

Today a very sad report was published showing that in 2020 the number of people experiencing homelessness who died on our streets or in homeless services increased by 80% compared with the previous year. I extend my sympathies to the friends, families and loved ones of all those who have died in homeless services and on our streets. The interim report on mortality among the single homeless population by Dr. Austin O'Carroll shows that the median age of someone who died while living in emergency accommodation was ju…