Not true

Ah, here. We did not vote against it.

The voting record shows that we did not vote against it.

They are not doing it.

To tell the truth.

That is absolutely not true.

And who is in charge?

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to make emergency provision to defer the termination dates of certain tenancies that fall, or would fall, during the period beginning on the day after the date of the passing of this Act and ending on 31 January 2024 in order to mitigate the risk that persons whose tenancies would otherwise be terminated during that period would be unable to obtain alternative accommodation; to make such provision on a phased basis to enable tenancies affected to be …

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

We always move on, Chair. The time moves on.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to debate the Bill. The background to the legislation is that back in 2017, RTÉ Investigates produced a very hard-hitting documentary called "Nightmare to Let". It produced, rightly and justifiably, a significant public outcry. It also created a significant debate in the Oireachtas over the challenges for those renters who live in substandard and, at times, outright dangerous rented properties, but also more general…

As the Minister of State knows, I am a very reasonable person. In fact, the Tánaiste has taken to extolling the virtues of my reasonableness at Leaders' Questions on several occasions recently. However, the Minister of State's response to the text of the Bill tests my reasonableness. He said it would have an enormous adverse impact on supply. There is nothing in this Bill that would have any adverse impact on supply. All I have done is framed legislation that would give the Minister the power, by way of regulations…

I know that, but this is my point. If one inspects 25% of existing tenancies - 70,000 tenancies - and 17% of them require a second inspection, or more, which has been the trend of recent years, it would bring the number of inspections up to 80,000 or 90,000 at the most. Therefore, if we are at 50,000, which is better than the 2021 report I referred to earlier, getting to 70,000, 80,000 or 90,000 per year would not be that difficult. On top of that, if landlords knew that there would be an inspection once every four…

Those are registered tenancies, not new tenancies.

Pushing up house prices.

Getting you out of Government will help solve the housing crisis.

Shame on you.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the State remains in the midst of a housing emergency; — the Government has chosen to end the emergency ban on evictions on 31st March, 2023; — the Government, in making this decision, has increased the stress and insecurity experienced by the 750,000 people, including working families, living in private rented accommodation; — the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has admitted that homelessness will increase once the current eviction ban ends; — according …

That is not true. That is simply not true.

When?