I will do so but I wish to respond to Senator Warfield briefly first. I will not be accepting his amendment for the reasons outlined already. I know that Senator Warfield agrees that it is imperative that we deal with the issue of substitute consent. As Minister, I have used the first opportunity presented to me, which is this Bill, to try to deal with the issue as expeditiously as possible. My aim is to ensure that the State does not continue to be liable for daily fines into the distant future. It is still going …

I thank Senators for their responses. Senator Seery Kearny is 100% correct that this requires two pieces of paper to be downloaded. We sent out 450,000 letters and engaged in radio communications on the new tenancy rights and protections. Threshold is part of the homelessness task force, which I chair, and has met the RTB on this issue. The new system is working well. I will quickly answer a couple of the queries because I know there are other amendments to be discussed. It is not a disappointment that only 328 peo…

I will address these amendments as quickly as I can. As Senator Warfield mentioned previously, the legislation we are amending is of quite a technical nature. It is important that Senators are clear on what we are doing. Amendment No. 15 inserts section 11 into the Bill to provide for circumstances in which Part 3 shall not apply, including where a landlord makes a counter-declaration to disapply the protections because of its impact on his or her personal and financial circumstances. Like with a tenant declaration…

No. I will move to the next section if the Acting Chairman wishes.

Amendments Nos. 16 and 17 are Government amendments from the Dáil. Amendment No. 16 inserts sections 10 and 11 in the Bill. Section 10 provides that a notice of termination grounded on rent arrears and served during the emergency period shall not specify a termination date earlier than 13 April 2021 and shall give 90 days’ notice, rather than the usual 28 days. The position for any tenant who made a declaration under the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act and to whom Part 3 of this Bill applies is that their t…

I appreciate what Senator Warfield has said. Have we one more group?

Amendment No. 19 inserts section 16 into the Bill to provide that the RTB tenancy tribunals are not required to be held in public in the period to 12 April 2021. We have covered most of this, to be fair. Section 16 of the Bill amends section 106 of the Residential Tenancies Act in this regard. The amendment is modelled on similar provisions: section 7 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020, pertaining to proceedings before tenancy tribunals; and section 8 of the Residential Tenancies a…

I thank all the Senators on all sides for their engagement. I am aware of their genuine interest in tenants' rights, housing and the importance of protecting those most at risk during Covid-19. I thank the Senators for their engagement at an early stage on this Bill. I initiated this legislation in the Seanad. We had to add to it substantially, which we did not necessarily envisage at first. We have done so with the co-operation of the Dáil and Seanad. This sends out a really strong message. While there will always…

Tairgim: "Go léifear an Bille an Dara hUair anois". I am grateful for the opportunity to bring the Bill before the House. As flagged in the Seanad and to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I intend to table further urgent legislative amendments on Committee Stage later this evening. The amendments relate to the operation of the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 and substitute consent provisions in the planning Act. I will now outline the main provisions of the Bill …

I am happy to. I have listened to colleagues intently in quite a detailed debate. There has been some misinterpretation around public consultation. That relates to the pre-draft stage of a development plan only. The joint committee received detailed briefings. It is complex legislation but it is urgent and important. The tenancy protections that we are bringing through are an extension of the protections that I put to the Dáil in July, which have worked and are very important to protect tenants and those most at ri…

It is hardly a dictatorship. I would say to the Deputies that these provisions relate to the pre-draft stage of a development plan process. They are nothing whatsoever to do with other public consultations. Local planning and zoning issues are not dealt with at the pre-draft stage. It is a development plan provision and there are some Covid-related provisions that are absolutely needed. What would we do if an outbreak of Covid within a planning authority in Limerick, for example, meant that the structures of that p…

I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 187, it be an instruction to the Dáil in Committee on the Planning and Development Bill 2020, that it has power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing provisions of the Bill, in relation to: (a) amendments to Part XA of the Planning and Development Act 2000, for the purpose of requiring An Bord Pleanála to refuse an application for substitute consent in the absence of exceptional circumstances and enabling members of the public to make sub…

I responded to those points in the Deputy's absence.

First, I wish to address a point on process. No one wants to come in to the House with significant pieces of legislation in a short space of time. It is not my intention to do that on a regular basis, nor have I done so, but there is an urgent imperative to extend tenancy protections to tenants who need them. Let us remember as well that thankfully only 2% of tenancies end up in dispute. Just under 400 tenants, a relatively small amount, sought the self-declaration protection. The fact that the protections are in p…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “PART 1 PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL Short title, collective citations and commencement 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act 2020. (2) (a) The Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2019, section 9 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020, Part II of the European Union (Waste Water Discharge) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 214 of 2020) and this Act may be cit…

If Members would prefer me to do that I can speak to each of the Government's amendments and deal with queries afterwards.

We can do that. Amendment No. 2 amends the definitions for the Bill to reflect that new Parts 2 and 3 amending the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, respectively, provide for their own definitions for the purposes of those Parts. Therefore the definitions of general application to the Bill itself are that: "Act of 2020" means the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020; “Covid-19” has the meaning assigned to it by the …

I apologise. Amendments Nos. 29 and 30 are in the grouping and are technical, supplementary and drafting amendments made to the Preamble and Title of the Bill to reflect the Government's amendments in the Bill as introduced today on Committee Stage. Amendment No. 29 provides for the recital in Preamble of the Bill. Recitals 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 at the end of the Bill set out the policy context in which the temporary and limited restrictions contained in Part 3, Residential Tenancies, on landlords' constitutionally prot…

I thank the Deputy for those questions and I will deal with his last point first. The rationale is indeed to make it very clear from a constitutional perspective that the legislation is balancing constitutional rights but importantly, its objective is to uphold the social, common good which is obviously permitted. That is the purpose of extending the Long Title. In response to the first question, amendment No. 16 is a drafting amendment to reflect Government amendment No. 2 which provides for "the Act of 2020". I a…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “Definitions 2. In this Act— "Act of 2020" means the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020; "Covid-19" has the meaning assigned to it by the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020.".