I move amendment No. 28: In page 5, to delete lines 29 and 30 and substitute the following: “(6) (a) Regulations made under this section shall require the employer to publish information in respect of a public body and, for the purposes of this paragraph, a person holding office in or employed in the service of a public body is deemed to be an employee of that public body.”. This amendment is self-evident. It seeks to provide more prescriptive language in section 20A(6), which reads: "may require the employer to pu…

Just as we are cautiously reopening, in particular with outdoor hospitality returning, I commend all the businesses and individuals who are running such well-ordered establishments. I have had the opportunity to travel across Dublin Bay South a lot in recent weeks and it has been really great to see so many places reopening and such general delight at being able to socialise safely again out of doors. I commend Dublin City Council on many of the great initiatives it is taking in terms of pedestrianisation in city c…

The Senator will be welcome.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to the House and welcome the opportunity to debate Second Stage of this important Bill. I thank the Minister for his kind words of acknowledgement for the work I and my Labour Party colleagues have done over many years to bring forward similar legislation. Indeed, the Bill we brought forward seeking to address the gender pay gap passed Second Stage in this House over four years ago, in May 2017. It passed Committee Stage here in October 2017 with Government and cross-party s…

I move amendment No. 45: In page 13, to delete lines 39 and 40, and in page 14, to delete lines 1 to 6 and substitute the following: “(2) The purchase of an affordable dwelling shall be facilitated by means of a contribution (in this Part referred to as the “affordable dwelling contribution”) which shall be the difference between the market value of the affordable dwelling on the date on which an enforceable agreement is made for its purchase by the eligible applicant and the price paid by the eligible applicant.”.

I move amendment No. 47: In page 14, to delete lines 13 to 16 and substitute the following: “(4) The affordable dwelling contribution shall not be greater than 20 per cent of market value.”. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am happy to stand in for Senator Moynihan on this. I know we have had a full debate on these issues. Senator Moynihan has indicated she wants to withdraw the amendment at this stage and to come back on Report Stage, if necessary, while seeking further clarity in between.

I move amendment No. 49: In page 14, to delete lines 17 to 28 and substitute the following: “(5) In consideration of the provision of the affordable dwelling contribution, the housing authority shall be entitled to a beneficial interest in the affordable dwelling (in this Part referred to as the “affordable dwelling equity”) which shall be equal to the amount of the affordable dwelling contribution.”.

I move amendment No. 50: In page 14, to delete lines 37 and 38 and substitute the following: “(c) record the affordable dwelling equity, expressed as a sum equal to the affordable dwelling contribution,”.

I move amendment No. 53: In page 16, to delete lines 32 to 35. I will speak briefly to the amendment because we have not debated it yet. However, I am conscious that we have had quite extensive debate on section 12 and the concept of affordability, section 12 being about affordable dwelling purchase arrangements. In particular, Senator Moynihan and I, on behalf of the Labour Party, have been calling for the concept of affordability to be linked to income rather than to market value. We have made those arguments. I …

I move amendment No. 54: In page 20, to delete lines 3 to 16. I am interested to hear the response of the Minister of State on these amendments. As I stated, I am anxious that we have time to consider the cost rental provisions in Part 3 of the Bill, but Senator Moynihan and I wish to reserve our position on these three amendments to sections 16, 17 and 19 and to again make the case about affordability of homes for all and to make the case strongly for more ambitious proposals from Government for the building of ho…

We had anticipated as much. I will withdraw the amendment and we may bring it and the others in this grouping back, possibly in a reworded form, on Report Stage.

I move amendment No. 55: In page 21, to delete lines 12 to 29.

I move amendment No. 56: In page 26, to delete lines 14 to 28.

I move amendment No. 57: In page 27, to delete line 24.

I move amendment No. 58: In page 32, line 6, to delete “30 years” and substitute “40 years”. Clearly, we are now on Part 3 of the Bill that deals with cost rental dwelling and for us this is a crucial. With the national emergency that we are seeing it is not just that we do not have enough homes being built. That is clearly a huge issue. What is also a huge issue is the lack of security of tenure and the lack of availability of affordable rents across the country but particularly in Dublin city. We see very high le…

I would like to come back in on it, if I may, and to hear the Minister of State's response. I simply wish to contrast Nos. 58 and 59.

Essentially, these amendments seek to do the same thing. Ours would extend the 30-year period to 40 years and Senator Warfield's would extend it to 50 years. I wish to respond to Senator Pauline O'Reilly. She quite rightly pointed out the importance of cost-rental models. It is very welcome to hear quite affirmative and positive responses from Senators Pauline O'Reilly and Cummins on the principle that Senator Warfield's amendment and our amendment seek to achieve, which is to ensure that we think longer term about…

I thank the Minister of State for his very constructive engagement and for accepting our amendment No. 58. We really welcome it. It is a great testament to the power of debate in the Seanad and the power of constructive engagement. We really appreciate the thoughtfulness that has gone into that and the Minister of State's very full and comprehensive response to the amendment. We believe this is important in the longer term. As I have said, we would have preferred 50 years but we are very glad the Minister of State …

Amendment No. 66 is a Labour Party amendment, tabled by Senator Moynihan, other colleagues and I. Along with the other amendments, it seeks to remove the profit motive from cost-rental to improve the model of cost-rental. I am heartened by the Minister of State's constructive approach and thank him for accepting our amendment No. 58. In the spirit of improving upon the model of cost-rental and ensuring that protection of security for tenants is regarded as a more long-term requirement, I ask that the Minister of St…

I move amendment No. 66: In page 32, to delete lines 30 and 31 and substitute the following: “(4) The proposed minimum period referred to in subsection (3)(e) — (a) in a case where a loan is to be granted by the Housing Agency under section 41 for the development or provision of dwellings to be designated as cost rental dwellings, shall be a period of indefinite duration, (b) in any other case, shall be a period of not less than 100 years.”. I debated it in place of Senator Moynihan. I thank the Minister of State f…