Into RPZs.

I move amendment No. 7: In page 6, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “ Review of Act 3. The Minister shall, not later than 2 years after the passing of this Act, conduct a review of the operation and effectiveness of amendments effected by this Act and shall, not later than 3 months after the end of that period of 2 years, or on the completion of the review, whichever is the earlier, make a report, in writing, to each House of the Oireachtas of the findings of the review and of the conclusions drawn…

I move amendment No. 8: In page 6, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “ Impact forecast 3 . The Minister shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, but not later than 6 months thereafter, prepare and publish, including publication by electronic means, a statement of forecasts for the following period of 10 years following its publication in respect of the impact of the amendments effected by this Act on market rents for a representative sample of tenancies, together with such other infor…

I move amendment No. 9: In page 6, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “ Notices of termination: temporary ban 3 . Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other enactment or rule of law, the period of 3 years commencing on the passing of this Act is deemed to be an emergency period within the meaning and for the purposes of section 5 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 and that section, with the exception of subsection (6)(b), applies accordingly.”. This…

If the Minister is not going to accept amendment No. 9, I plead with him to accept amendment No. 38. This amendment proposes to amend the table in section 34 of the 2004 Act, which sets out the ground for the termination of a tenancy. The ground specified in paragraph four of the table is that "the landlord requires the dwelling or the property containing the dwelling for his or her own occupation or for occupation by a member of his or her family". In my view and in the opinion of many people, this provision is mu…

I want to come back in on that. Numerous cases were upheld by the RTB where it was found that this provision was abused with people being evicted from their property. What I am trying to do in this amendment is simply to tighten it up where there is a specific risk to the tenant being made homeless. That is all.

I speak on this Bill on behalf of my colleague Deputy Kelly. There are a number of points that really need to be emphasised in this debate. One is that the Government is not doing enough to present the case for inward migration. It is a fact that this country is dependent on migration and many sectors of our economy are held together by migrant workers, including the care, hospitality and tourism sectors. I am not just talking about people on work visas or student visa; I refer also to asylum seekers. Contrary to w…

You have three and a half minutes.

Thank you, Deputy.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle as an gceist seo a roghnú and I thank the Minister of State for being here. The lack of a regulatory framework and national standards for professional interpretation in judicial but also medical settings is an issue of huge concern in this country following the judgement by the Court of Appeal in the case of Director of Public Prosecutions v. HM and BO, which quashed the conviction of a married couple who were convicted of female genital mutilation, as the court found evide…

I am disappointed by that response. The Minister of State referred to a directive of the European Parliament that compels member states to take concrete measures to ensure interpretation and translation provided meets the necessary quality standards. I have presented an example of where that did not happen. There is a line in the directive that member states must endeavour to establish registers of interpreters and translators. This is something that is best practice, which professional linguists and people such as…

It is going to put rents up.

This legislation seeks to rewrite the rental rules for the seventh time in a decade. In his speech, the Minister spoke about moderating price growth. Bar the tacit acknowledgement in his speech that rents are too high, there is nothing in the Bill that will bring rents down. I looked on daft.ie recently and I found that within a kilometre of Leinster House, it is €695 a week for a studio apartment on Hatch Street, €4,500 a month on Tara Street, and for a two-bedroom apartment on Grand Canal Place, it is €3,600 a mo…

I thank the Deputy.

I thank the Deputy. He is way over time.

I thank the Deputy.

I thank the Deputy.

This legislation is going to dramatically increase rents. The fact of the matter is that we have an inbuilt deficit of well over 200,000 homes. The Minister is talking about incentivising private sector investment but he is not going to be able to incentivise enough investment within the lifetime of this Oireachtas to bring rents down. Rents need to come down. Students, in particular, are going to be punished by this as they are forced to take up a new lease every year. The average length of a tenancy in this count…

The Minister talks about the Opposition not coming forward with solutions. I have been in this House over a year now. Time and again, we have come forward with amendments to legislation. The Government brings the Bill in, takes Committee and Remaining Stages very quickly in the House and guillotines it. We do not even have time with certain legislation to discuss the substantive amendments. I want to ask the Minister a very specific question on the proposed legislation. Notwithstanding his views on a rent freeze, w…

Hear, hear.