Not Hammerson.

That is not the problem.

The Taoiseach mentioned investment in culture and arts in the shared island programme. I draw his attention to something that was raised in testimony at the Committee on Budgetary Oversight about the Irish film industry by both Equity, which represents artists and performers, and representatives of crew, the people who work behind the camera, if you like. Both of them were testifying to the fact that, even though we have a lot of State money going into the live action film area, the contracts that performers here g…

For months and months, the taxi representative groups such as Tiománaí Tacsaí na hÉireann, the Taxi Alliance, the National Private Hire & Taxi Association, NPHTA, and the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation have been asking the Government to extend the arbitrary ten-year rule on vehicle licensing for taxi drivers to 15 years. A public consultation concluded on 12 October and the views of taxi drivers on this are beyond doubt. They want the extension from ten to 15 years for taxi drivers. Currently, they have to get rid o…

If a vehicle passes the NCT, it passes the NCT.

The Government has been forced to introduce an eviction ban. Over the past four years, People Before Profit has brought in four different Bills proposing eviction bans. The Government has argued against them. It has dragged its heels and resisted. It put up every argument as to why it could not happen and why it was problematic constitutionally, but when sufficient pressure came on, it was forced to introduce it, but, as Deputy Murphy said, in the most minimalist fashion possible. One of the groups that will suffer…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, line 20, to delete “2023” and substitute “2024”. The eviction ban, or the deferment of termination dates for certain tenancies, to be more accurate, is a belated concession on the part of the Government to the long-standing demand of many of us here in the Opposition that it should ban no-fault evictions at least for the duration of the housing emergency. It should be noted that the Dáil declared an emergency in housing, again, in response to pressure, most notably the Raise the R…

We have to get onto the other amendments but the Minister did not really respond to the central argument. I heard the Irish Property Owners Association representatives humming and hawing on "Morning Ireland" when they were asked whether they were actually going to take legal action. They did not sound to me like they were going to take action because they do not have a very solid base for doing so. That is the truth. The association could not challenge the measures taken during the Covid pandemic and there is a ver…

We all get trolled. The existing Constitution allows for a delimiting of the rights of private property holders in the interests of the common good. That is what we did during the Covid pandemic, what the Minister has done with his very limited rent controls and so on and what he is doing here. Given that this House has declared an emergency, there is a very sound basis for maintaining the ban on evictions until that emergency is over. That is constitutionally sound. I do not believe any judge would entertain an ar…

I heard the Minister.

The Minister can say it again.

On the loopholes around ability to pay rent, the justification offered by the Minister for the emergency period - and it is the emergency period as defined by this legislation - surely exists as long as this House believes that it is an emergency. The Minister, however, has defined it as relating to the winter. Why is it limited from November to March if it is not to do with the winter? Clearly that is the basis on which the Minister has decided the period, which is completely arbitrary. We would like it for longer…

The house is not like a mansion. It is a terraced house. What does the Minister want me to say? It is a terraced house that is smaller than a lot of council houses, if that is what he is asking.

The Government was under pressure and was belatedly forced to bring in a ban on evictions, and I am glad that was the case. As I pointed out in the past week, it now transpires from the legislation that any person whose termination date on a notice to quit came before the date of the emergency period commencing will not be protected from eviction. If you have already passed your termination date and you are overholding, as many people are advised to do by the councils and local authorities, you will not be protecte…

There is no time to take amendments.

There is not. There is 60 minutes for Committee Stage. That is not enough time to deal with amendments.

This morning Israeli forces raided several areas in the occupied West Bank. Six more Palestinians were killed and 21 were wounded. This is just a small part of a much more general escalation by Israel, with raids in Jenin and Nablus and blockades of whole communities. Many young people have been shot. There is also an ongoing attempt at ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. Amnesty International produced a report this week that accuses Israel of having committed war crimes earlier this year in Gaza. Th…

Or Iraq.

We do.

The well-being framework rightly points to access to housing as a key component of well-being. For the more than 100 residents of Tathony House, an apartment complex in Dublin 8 with 35 households of workers, families and many children, their well-being was seriously shattered by an eviction notice from their landlord threatening the mass eviction of the entire block. Shockingly, the person who owns this property, who the residents estimate is probably making an annual income of about €700,000 a year, is trying to …