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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 30 Nov 2016

Vol. 931 No. 1

Secure Rents and Tenancies Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members]

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

For four years the cost of renting a home has spiralled upwards. According to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, the average rent for a one-bedroom home in Dublin has increased by 24%. That is an extra €2,940 per year. The average increase for a two-bedroom home has been 21%, an extra €3,204 per year. In Cork, the home city of the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, the increases have been just as steep. The average rent increase for one and two-bedroom properties has been 16%, which is an extra €1,260 per year for a one-bedroom property and €1,680 per year for a two-bedroom property.

The increase in asking prices for new lettings has been even more dramatic. Daft.ie has recorded a 43% hike in new rents between January 2013 and October 2016. New rents throughout the State have risen to more than €1,000 per month, and in Dublin new rents are now more than €1,500 per month. As every Deputy knows, rents are now higher than they were at the peak of the boom. In my constituency of Dublin Mid-West, the asking price for renting an average family home is €1,700 per month. That is more than €20,000 per year.

The cost of renting is out of control and is affecting hundreds of thousands of families. Approximately 750,000 people live in the private rental sector. In Dublin, one in four households rent. Gone are the days when renting was just for students, low-income families and first-time buyers who were saving. The private rented sector is where low and middle- income workers and those on council housing waiting lists spend very long periods of time. Indeed, low and middle-income renting families are now paying between 40% and 60% of their disposable income on rent. Families relying on rent supplement or the housing assistance payment, HAP, are being priced out of the market, while students and single people are being squeezed by out-of-control prices. Crucially, the 200% increase in family homelessness since 2014 is a direct result of the crisis in the rental sector. Tonight, almost 2,500 children will sleep in emergency accommodation. In its recent Oireachtas briefing on family homelessness, Focus Ireland said:

A large majority of families becoming homeless had their last secure home in the private rented sector. The main forces making them homeless from this sector were increased rents and landlords evicting to sell the property.

Excessive rents are not just making families homeless. Families are now trapped in emergency accommodation for 12 to 24 months because they cannot get back into the private rental market.

This is not an accident. The rent and homelessness crises are not forces of nature. They are the direct result of the actions and inaction of Fine Gael and its coalition partners since 2014. The mealy-mouthed measures introduced in 2014 did nothing to stop the spiralling cost of accommodation. Indeed, for some the so-called rent certainty measures resulted in immediate price hikes. For others, they simply delayed the inevitable. When Sinn Féin introduced rent certainty legislation last June, Fine Gael, eagerly supported by Fianna Fáil, voted it down. That Bill would have saved renting families up to €2,000 a year. There is no doubt that it would have prevented some families from becoming homeless. However, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and his trusty ally, Deputy Cowen, said "No". Renters would get no immediate relief. They said we were pre-empting the Government's strategy for the private rental sector, that the legislation would scare off investors and that any new measures would have to balance the interests of landlords with those of tenants.

When the Minister, Deputy Coveney, heard that Sinn Féin intended to use its Private Members' time this week to discuss the rental crisis, he expressed disappointment during Question Time. He accused us of playing politics with the issue.

That is exactly what it is doing.

I suspect the tens of thousands of families struggling with excessive rents would disagree. I suspect the families living in emergency accommodation would also disagree. The thousands of people who have signed the Secure Rents Campaign online petition definitely disagree. The reason we have brought forward this Bill is that we are seeking to put pressure on the Minister and his colleagues in Government to include these three modest measures in the rental strategy that is being finalised.

In our view, the best way to stop the spiralling cost of rents is to link rent to an index such as the consumer price index, CPI. The best way to slow down the rate of evictions in the rental sector is to remove sale of property as grounds for issuing a notice to quit. The best way to give tenants greater security of tenure is to make tenancies of indefinite duration the norm. This is not just Sinn Féin’s view. It was also the view of the all-party Committee on Housing and Homelessness. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members of that committee supported these three measures when the committee finalised and published its report in June. It is also the view of all the parties and Independents who have co-signed this Bill: Independents 4 Change, the Labour Party, People Before Profit, the Anti-Austerity Alliance, the Social Democrats and the Green Party.

The Bill's measures were designed to echo the demands of the Secure Rents Campaign launched earlier this month. Unite, Mandate, SIPTU, the Communications Workers' Union, CWU, IMPACT and the Civil Public & Services Union, CPSU, joined forces with Uplift and the Dublin Tenants Association in a public campaign calling for rent certainty and security of tenure. I welcome representatives from the campaign who are in the Visitors Gallery today. We all share a single purpose. We want the Government to include these three measures in its strategy for the rental sector. We ask that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, introduce an amendment to his Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill in the Dáil this month to give effect to these measures. We ask the Government to abandon its spurious opposition to rent certainty and security of tenure. Struggling renters urgently need a break. Rent certainty and security of tenure are good not only for tenants but also for landlords. Action is required now to halt spiralling rents and evictions.

Today Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have a clear choice. Will they join the rest of the Members in supporting the 750,000 people who live in the private rental sector? I sincerely hope so. On that basis I commend the Bill to the House.

Housing is the major crisis of our time and it is one that continues to worsen every single month. We now live in a society where the Government of this State considers it acceptable for thousands of children to be homeless. Six years into this crisis it is now clear that this is not an accident; this is Government policy. As long as the Government continues to vigorously protect the rights of landlords, tenants will continue to be exploited.

In County Louth in my constituency we have 100 homeless people. Two years ago we had one person who was homeless. The chickens are coming home to roost and the fruits of the Government policy of protecting their own, the landlords, at any cost are crystal clear for all to see. Last Friday a man who was homeless was found dead sheltering in a trolley bay in the car park of a shopping centre in Dundalk. He was sleeping out in the open in sub-zero temperatures. Just a few hours earlier another man was found dead sleeping in an abandoned mill in Donegal and it is believed he may have frozen to death. That is the cost of Government inaction. I have to ask what in God's name will it take for it to act.

It is completely unfair that people live with no security of tenure. It is impossible to plan ahead, to plan families and to plan for the future when people do not know where they are going to be living in six months or in a year's time.

Spiralling rents, another issue raised in this Bill, have compounded the problem, as people and families are priced out of the rental market. Between the lack of housing, the lack of regulation in the rental market and unaffordable property we find ourselves in this state of crisis. However, the Minister already knows about this. The question is: how much or how little does he care?

Most other major cities have housing strategies to control the market but here it seems to be a free for all. We lurch from boom to bust and back again and nobody seems to be put out by the collateral damage of families - men, women and children - who lose their homes and are made homeless.

I ask the Minister, for once since he took up office, to take action. We are coming into the winter months. God forbid one of his own was sleeping rough out on the street in the depths of winter. I ask him to take action and back this Bill.

What has changed since Sinn Féin last tried to address spiralling rents with the introduction of a Bill in this House in June of this year? Is it change for the worse? This Government remains as ignorant and as inactive as ever. Rents have continued to rise. Tenants remain insecure in their homes. This Bill attempts to address these harsh difficulties with which people are faced.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil continue to abandon the people to the horrendous situation of spending a substantial, unsustainable amount of their income on rent and with this they have no security on the sale of their home by the landlord. This is all combined with the lack of social housing.

In my constituency of Dublin Bay North, I hear of people every day who are caught in this whirlwind of a housing crisis. These are people who are in chronic fear of the future due to fast rent increases and they do not know if they will have the very basic necessity of a having roof over their heads. Many of these people now find themselves facing homelessness. The Minister and the Government are leaving people to be beaten by the market forces because of their lack of action.

The laws concerning rent and security of tenancy are taken as a given in other countries but this seems to be completely lost on Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, much to the disadvantage of the people they are meant to serve. The Government is blind on the issue of secure rents and the security of tenancy. We need action and we need it now, and this Sinn Féin Bill will provide that action.

We have been seeking rent controls for the past number of years and the Government has kept batting the issue back saying we do not need them or not just yet. This Government and the previous one have failed spectacularly to introduce effective rent controls. Rent controls, together with ensuring people have a roof over their heads and, more importantly, ensuring that those roofs are kept over their heads would save the Government money because we would have fewer homeless people and less rent allowance to pay out to private landlords. It would ease the pressure on the working poor, which the Minister's party claims to be protecting. The working poor in some cases are paying as much as 60% of their meagre wages in rent alone. That is criminal.

The previous Government introduced a measure whereby rents could only be increased every two years and we were told at the time that this would solve the problem. I remember saying that it would not address the problem. Sinn Féin colleagues and other Members on this side of House highlighted that. Many landlords got the benefit and brought in massive rent hikes, which in some cases were as much as 30%. I have seen rents in County Laois increase from €550 per month to €800 per month. In Monasterevin in County Kildare I saw rents increase from €700 per month to €1,000 per month. A daft.ie survey shows that average increase in rents in the past 12 months in County Laois was 13.6% and in County Kildare it was 13.4%.

Meanwhile, 300,000 houses are vacant across the State. According to the housing agency, 12.1% of houses are vacant in County Laois and 7.8% are vacant in County Kildare. Banks and vulture funds have been repossessing homes and they are stepping it up with gusto, but they are boarding them up and sitting tight waiting for the value of the houses to increase. Families are being forced into an already overpriced, overcrowded and congested private rented sector, or worse still, into homelessness. This is a huge problem. The Land League fought for fair rent and fixity of tenure but now, after a century has passed and we are into a new century, we are trying to get those principles applied not to land but to houses and to the rental sector. It is most important that people have a roof over their heads because the lack of it affects everything else, health, education and employment. All of those are tied into it whether people have the key of a door and secure housing.

Government inaction is adding to the problem. For six years those in government have turned their faces away from this. I ask the Minister to do the right thing and to put effective rent controls in place, link rent increases to the rate of general inflation and bring in measures where tenancies can be transferred with the sale of a house. All of us know of cases where when houses were sold, and when the bank or the vulture funds moved in they wanted to move the tenant out. The tenancy should move with the sale of the house if the tenant has a contract. More of the people who have unsustainable mortgages should be moved into the mortgage to rent scheme and an ambitious housing building programme should be accelerated. We want to see that driven on. We want to see more local authority housing because that has to be part of the solution.

Governments are supposed to govern and regulate and, thus far, this Government, following on from the previous one, has failed to address this issue. What vested interests are holding this up? We appeal to the Minister to support this Bill. It is simple and straightforward. It is good for people who are in private rented accommodation, it is good for the taxpayer and it is good for the public finances.

I will try to be brief. I, like every other Member, have a constituency office and consistently for the past few years but particularly for the past six years I have had constituent after constituent come into my office to ask me what they should do. I do not have an answer. A person came into my constituency office on Monday whose landlord is going to increasing their rent by €400 per month in March to the level of the going rent in Dublin. The person was paying €900 per month and increasing the rent by €400 per month will still be under the going rent. I was able to give them some advice. Another person came in straight after that person and they were living in unfit accommodation. They do not want to complain to their landlord because they know if they leave or if they are put out, there is nowhere else for them to go. It is not the failure of this Government alone but the failure in particular of the previous Government. Successive Governments since the founding of this State have failed to address the issue of rents.

There is a crisis and an emergency situation. In an emergency, one passes emergency legislation. Fine Gael did that during the banking crisis but nobody seems to have copped that there is a housing crisis and that children are being affected. Emergency laws should be passed to confiscate or compulsorily purchase buildings that are sitting idle in this city and elsewhere. That is not being done, and it has not been opposed by us on local authorities. If that was done-----

It is being done.

The Minister is talking about it and his party has been talking about it for the past six years. I can bring him down the street and show him the buildings that are empty. They might be zoned as offices but in an emergency, families should be put up in them. One does not talk and talk. It is well past the time for action on behalf of those families who are suffering because of the Government's inability to address the problem of rent certainty.

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following:

"Dáil Éireann, while recognising the pressures that tenants are under following rent increases and the need for a comprehensive response to these pressures and while acknowledging the Bill’s merits in the context of the broader debate on the rental market, declines to give the Bill a second reading for the following reasons:

(a) it pre-empts the relevant commitments in the programme for Government and in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, particularly in relation to the publication of a strategy for the rental sector by end 2016, in which the Government will be considering measures to provide greater rental predictability for landlords and tenants and to improve security of tenure for tenants;

(b) the measures in the Bill risk negatively impacting on existing and future supply of rental accommodation; and

(c) the Bill has potential legal and constitutional implications which require careful consideration.".

The tenor of the contributions that seem to suggest that we are not taking seriously the housing crisis or even recognising it is absolute rubbish. We have increased the housing budget for next year by 50% and we have spent €200 million this year buying properties through local authorities.

After six years. Where are the emergency laws?

The problem with the Deputy as usual is that once someone addresses the concerns he has outlined, he changes his pitch because he does not like what he is hearing.

I have not. I just said that.

There is a comprehensive strategy, Rebuilding Ireland, which deals with the multiple strands from a policy perspective and we now have to implement that. We will spend €5.3 billion over the next five years on social housing and a series of other initiatives is in train to address the core issue, which is a deficit in supply of both social housing and affordable private housing. We are doing a great deal to generate movement on increased supply.

I will address the issue Sinn Féin has raised in respect of the rental market. The party spokesperson knows exactly what is happening. We will have a new rental strategy within the next fortnight, which will take account of the submissions by multiple Members and parties. The notion that Sinn Féin has a monopoly on compassion for people who are struggling in the housing market has no basis in fact.

The Minister is the only one with that notion.

We are responding to that across multiple strands. For example, we are providing another 240 beds this winter to address homelessness and opening three new properties, one of which was resisted by one of the Deputy's party spokespeople on Francis Street in Dublin.

It was not Francis Street and it was not resisted. The Minister has his facts wrong. He is misrepresenting what happened.

The Deputy does not like it when he has to accept the truth.

On a point of order, the Minister is misrepresenting the facts to the House.

Will both the Deputy and the Minister resume their seats? We must pursue this debate in a more orderly fashion. If the Deputy and the Minister want to have a debate among themselves, they can have it outside the Chamber. Let us debate the legislation before us.

I will happily, but I am responding to allegations that were made. I am now doing it through the Chair, which I am entitled to do.

The Minister should not allow himself to be provoked.

A strong and viable private rental sector can play an important role in the housing market and our wider economy. It can provide a housing option to those who either cannot or choose not to enter the owner-occupied market but still have sufficient means to meet their own accommodation needs. It can provide a housing option to meet increasing demand and it can promote flexibility and better alignment to a more mobile labour market, making it easier for individuals and families to pursue job opportunities or adapt their accommodation to changing family circumstances. It can also reduce the macroeconomic risks of an over-reliance on home ownership. We have witnessed examples over the past decade where states with relatively large private rented sectors such as Germany and Switzerland were better insulated against housing booms than states with small rented sectors such as Ireland and Spain. Indeed, the rental sector in Ireland has traditionally been regarded as a residual sector in which households who would prefer either to own their own home privately or access permanent social housing must serve time on their way to their true tenure of choice.

The rental sector in Ireland has doubled in size over the past two decades. Almost one fifth of the population now lives in the rental sector. Growth in the sector has been driven by a range of factors, including a reducing reliance on home ownership as a tenure of choice, as well as demographic factors, including inward migration from the EU and decreasing household size increasing rates of new household formation. Notwithstanding this, the rental sector in Ireland still needs to develop and mature to provide a viable, sustainable and attractive alternative to home ownership rather than serving as a temporary refuge or a staging post. Severe supply pressures, increasing rents, security of tenure issues, limited but nonetheless unacceptable examples of poor accommodation standards and a shortage of professional institutional landlords are impediments to delivering on a strong, stable and modern rental sector that offers choice for individuals and households while contributing to economic growth.

There have been some improvements. Important amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act introduced last year mean that the minimum period between rent reviews for tenancies has increased from 12 to 24 months. This will apply for a four-year period, until 2019. In addition, the minimum period of notice of new rent is increased from 28 days to 90 days and longer notice periods for the termination of long-term tenancies have been introduced. However, acute pressures persist in the rental market. These pressures are driven by a number of factors, including increasing demand, a fundamental lack of supply and high costs that indebted landlords face in servicing their loans. There is no doubt that the problems in the rental sector are part of a bigger problem. Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis and the problems caused by high rents reflect, and are reflected in, the other issues facing the housing market, including insufficient homes for first-time buyers, increased demand for social housing and unacceptable levels of homelessness. While many factors contribute to these problems, the one factor common to all of them is the prolonged and chronic lack of supply of new houses.

The core issue behind almost all of the pressures throughout the housing market is a lack of supply. Ultimately, the most effective way to reduce and stabilise rents in the medium to long term and benefit the entire sector is to increase supply and accelerate delivery of housing for the private and social rental sectors. In publishing Rebuilding Ireland, the Government has set out a practical and readily implementable set of actions to create a functioning and sustainable housing system. However, I acknowledge that it will take some time for supply and demand to reach equilibrium. In the meantime, however, it is essential that measures taken to address rental prices do not jeopardise supply. While I appreciate the motivation behind the Bill, it does not contain any mitigating measures to protect supply and, therefore, it is likely that it would have a negative effect on both existing and future supply of rental accommodation. Without counterbalancing measures, there is a risk that the measures proposed in the Bill would force existing supply to exit the market and discourage future supply for the sector.

That is why Rebuilding Ireland commits to developing a real and meaningful strategy for the rental sector, with a major focus on supply but also including new mechanisms for both setting and reviewing rents, and we are committed to that. Every political party, members of the public and stakeholders in the rental sector have had an opportunity to contribute in writing to the rental strategy, which I will launch in a fortnight. Many Members, including Deputy Ó Broin who also attended and contributed to the consultation day, have done so. I accept his is a detailed submission. I will launch the rental strategy in a fortnight and it will set out a realistic targeted plan for dealing with the many serious issues that we are discussing.

Fianna Fáil has tabled a detailed amendment to the Bill, for which it is seeking support. We have also tabled an amendment to be voted on tomorrow.

There is much in the Fianna Fáil motion that I am comfortable with but I do not want to commit to that kind of detail until we launch our own strategy. We will not oppose the counter motion but we will abstain on it.

From my perspective, I have made my position very clear on this issue since the summer. What I said was that after a consultation process, we would launch a new rental strategy before the end of the year. We will do that. I appreciate the pressure that the Deputy needs to keep me under to make sure we deliver on promises. I accept this Bill is an effort at continuing to raise the issue of rent certainty. Deputy Ó Broin knows I cannot support a Bill two weeks before we launch a comprehensive strategy which will perhaps be given legal effect by legislation that is about to come into the Dáil in terms of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill. If we are going to introduce measures, we have an opportunity to do that and I hope the Deputy will help us. I cannot accept a Bill that is essentially a one-sided argument albeit dealing with a very genuine issue. We need to have a balanced approach to protecting tenants because without landlords we do not have a functioning rental market. We need to do both and that is what we will endeavour to do before the end of the year.

I acknowledge the thrust, will and desire of the Bill from Sinn Féin this evening. I acknowledge that strong rent certainty measures are necessary to help alleviate the record rent rates we have seen in recent years which have reached huge levels, were unforeseen and are contributing to the homelessness situation. Far too much of people's disposable income is being contributed to rent, and in many cases not enough income is forcing people into homelessness. We have what has become an abnormal market which needs abnormal intervention for it to be normalised. Any intervention which has at its core a rent certainty model or measure would only be for set period - a sunset period - until such time as we can see a normalisation of the market. I acknowledge that much of what is necessary for the mid to long-term resolution of the housing crisis is in hand and will take time to materialise. We can have debates, and we can seek to exert our influence on supply measures to help with that, on the provision of housing units and also in the area of the rental sector. Any form of a rent certainty model has to be well thought out. Our amendment, as the Minister has alluded to, would oblige the Minister to bring forward rent certainty measures within one month if they are not contained in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill that is going through the Houses and that will be in the Dáil in a couple of weeks. I expect there to be some measures contained in the Bill to address this issue on Committee Stage. Regulations that are constitutional and targeted, especially in areas in which it is most vital that we interfere, are required at this time when it is not too late, although in many cases it is unfortunately too late.

By virtue of the configuration of the Dáil, as I have said on many occasions, there is an opportunity for consensus. There is an opportunity to resolve this issue and for a consensus to be arrived at in order for results to be achieved. When we set out to facilitate this Government, we did so in recognition of the numbers that were presented to us and with the view that we did not feel that the electorate needed or wanted a general election. We saw fit to give some value to those who voted in our favour by agreeing a confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael to facilitate the formation of Government and ensure that it went in a certain direction to address many pressing issues, while at the same time dealing with the other inevitable decision that had to be taken on water. There is a pathway in place to deal with it and we are moving on to the next chapter following the commission's report this week.

The confidence and supply arrangement affords us, as a political party, the opportunity to represent those who give us the privilege to do so and to yield some influence on Government in the preparation of policy initiatives to achieve results in areas where we want to see results. The special Committee on Housing and Homelessness was also a product of the configuration of the Dáil whereby a consensus was sought. Much hard work was done by our party, the Government parties, Sinn Féin, and Members from other parties and none in an effort to consolidate an opinion and a set of proposals to Government for inclusion in the Rebuilding Ireland document that has been produced. The various pillars within that have been announced on a couple of occasions but more particularly in this instance on the rental strategy, which will be forthcoming in the coming weeks. We hope that committee for all its hard work, dedication and commitment will be in a position to yield influence.

In recent weeks, Fianna Fáil and others, including the proposer of tonight's Bill, made submissions on the basis that the Government would assimilate and analyse them and negotiate with us during the course of their deliberations before finalising the strategy. We respect that process. We hope to see it reflected in the final decision by Government and that our imprint, and that of others if necessary, is in it so results can be achieved. That is what we are here for and that is what we want to see done. We do not want to game play or use Private Members' time to score points over one another politically and not address the issues we were put here to address. We want people to see there is real and effective change and proposals in legislation coming forward as a result of the convoluted configuration that one might say is present here in the Dáil.

I am glad the Minister made reference in his presentation this evening to bringing forward initiatives and a strategy that is reflective of that process. Our submission sought and continues to seek to moderate rent inflation and increase supply. It is inclusive of proposals around a rent certainty model which looks at five-year historical rates in the area, applicable especially to the specific areas it is crucial to tackle in Dublin, other cities and different parts of the country. We want to increase security of occupation with a range of incentives and competitive finance for build-to-rent units, for example. We want to reward landlords who agree long leases, and have an NCT-type system where local authorities can inspect and authorise that units are safe, proper and appropriate for such rental agreements. We want an extension of the empty property refurbishment grant that is being piloted in Carlow and Waterford and to see that rolled out in other parts of the country over time. We want assistance for involuntary landlords who are in negative equity and who need help, and we want more favourable tax treatment for rental income.

Despite the desire of many within my party to support, as a matter of principle, the Bill before us today, I refrained from doing so because I believe in the process that is being put in place. I believe in its potential. I hope it can be reflected in what the Minister brings forward in the coming weeks and that our input, dedication and commitment to resolving this issue is reflected in what the Minister introduces. If the Minister does that, and is seen to do that, we can go to the public and be assured that it is getting better representation than the sort of political gamesmanship that is achieved by bringing forward motions that are simplistic and short in nature and which do not look at the regulations or the constitutional implications that are contained within it. That is the reason we have tabled our amendment. In the event of that not being reflected in the Minister's policies in the coming weeks, we will be very quick to bring forward a Bill to reflect our submission in the hope that we receive support from others. We want to ensure that those we represent and those who are in this horrible, unfortunate predicament will see that the convoluted configuration of this Dáil, and the difficulties associated with governance because of that, can be resolved and can effect the sort of change that is necessary.

Will Deputy Cowen move the Fianna Fáil amendment?

My amendment states:

To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following:

“Dáil Éireann:

recognising that:

— the current level of rental inflation is not sustainable;

— rent inflation in Dublin and other cities is severely impacting on disposable incomes, pushing people into homelessness and posing a risk to our economic stability and competitiveness;

— rent certainty measures are required to reduce excessive rent inflation and increase security of occupancy for tenants and should be coupled with a range of incentives to expand the supply of rental properties; and

— any rent regulations should be introduced initially on a short-term basis with a sunset clause, pending analysis of their market impact;

acknowledging that:

— this Bill is very poorly thought out and would possibly bring further chaos to the rental market;

— while stronger rent certainty measures are required, any model has to be well-thought out and display a cognisance of the significant disruptions that any rent regulations can inflict on the market; and

— there is a need to examine the National Economic Social Council (NESC) proposal for a ‘flexible market sensitive model of rent regulation’;

agreeing that within one month the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government will introduce new rent certainty measures to the Oireachtas, subsequent to scrutiny between now and then by the Oireachtas Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government which will consider submissions and hold hearings that have regard in particular to ensure that the proposed Bill:

(a) is the most appropriate model for rent certainty regulations, including whether rents should be tied to local market indexes, such as historical market averages or to national indexes, such as the consumer price index;

(b) does not give rise to any unintended consequences that create adverse effects on the rental market, bearing in mind experience of rent certainty models in other jurisdictions;

(c) takes account of any negative impacts on rental unit supply and appropriate measures to limit these;

(d) does not give rise to constitutional difficulties by identifying and dealing with constitutional issues; and

(e) includes complimentary measures to increase supply of rental properties, including measures to assist so-called ‘involuntary landlords’, measures to encourage owners of vacant properties to lease properties to approved housing bodies or local authorities, and measures to direct low cost finance for new build-to-rent accommodation; and

declines to give a Second Reading to the Bill.”

I call Deputy Pat Casey, please.

Deputy Lisa Chambers is going first.

I thank Deputy Casey and the Ceann Comhairle. It goes without question that Fianna Fáil supports rent certainty.

We have put that fact on record on several occasions. The problem with this Bill, as we have told those in Sinn Féin time and again, is that it is too simplistic and only addresses one aspect of the problem. In fact, there are many aspects to this problem. We need to adopt a holistic approach to this matter from the point of view of the concept of supply and rent certainty, as well as all the regional imbalances that are reflected in the current crisis.

Unlike Sinn Féin, we are seeking real solutions to this problem rather than simply headlines in newspapers. This Bill proves my point. Let us consider the timing of its introduction, what is coming down the line in several weeks' time and our amendment. The timing of the Bill's introduction shows the true nature of what those in Sinn Féin are attempting to do. It shows the true nature of what Sinn Féin intends to achieve, namely, political gain for the party without a care for anyone else.

We must be cognisant of the potential constitutional law issues. We are legislators and we must be aware of the impact of any legislation we pass. I fail to see how those in Sinn Féin have considered this. We must also examine the position of landlords in all of this. They are not all big vultures or corporate entities. Some of them are accidental landlords. Some are ordinary people who find themselves in the position of being landlords. They need to be considered.

Clearly, we have a massive housing crisis and there is a problem with rent, especially in our capital city. However, supply is a major aspect of the problem. The rental market is being driven by the lack of supply. It is clear that we have an imbalance in regional development, a lack of investment in rural Ireland, poor investment in the regions and overheating of the rental market. There has been mass migration of people from all parts of the country to Dublin. That is why there is overheating in the rental market in our capital city. This is the reason people cannot access housing and it is why they are living in cramped conditions, with rents soaring on a constant basis.

What I have outlined indicates why rent certainty is only one aspect of this matter; it is only one part of the problem. We need to ascertain the right model for rent certainty and regulation. We cannot simply fix one problem only to create a host of new ones. I am of the opinion that the latter is what the Bill would do. This Bill represents a ham-fisted approach and it is ill-thought out.

Fianna Fáil is doing what it has always tried to do. We are using our political weight and our numbers in opposition to achieve real reform. We are looking to help those who are in crisis with their rent and the families and citizens affected by rental problems. Deputy Cowen has made it clear that we need to see action and results. The Minister has overseen numerous announcements and launches of various reports, policies and actions he proposes to take. However, we are not seeing the effects of these on the ground. Meanwhile, rents continue to increase. It has been pointed out to the Minister and his Department that we are facilitating his and the Government's work in this regard. However, if we do not see action and results soon, we will have no option but to take an alternative approach.

I reiterate our lack of support for the Bill on the basis that it is ill-thought out and it does not address all the problems. Our party believes that it will create problems rather than fix them.

I was not elected to this Dáil to play games. Ireland's housing crisis is too serious for political games. Tonight, 142 people are sleeping on the streets outside these Houses. Unlike others, I am not concerned whether Fianna Fáil gets media coverage or high poll ratings week in, week out. Fianna Fáil wants to work to help to solve the crisis in all its forms, including homelessness, rental problems and, ultimately, supply. Fianna Fáil is here to provide solutions to the crisis for the people. We take our responsibility seriously and we are working every day to get the Government to provide workable measures for a range of housing problems. However, solutions must be based in reality and have the support of the people to work.

Our confidence-and-supply agreement with Fine Gael gave the Government the space and time to identify a range of policies that can collectively address what are complex problems relating to housing. However, time is running out. Solutions must be delivered in order to give certainty to tenants and, importantly, allow rental supply to grow. We have tabled an amendment which will ensure that a workable rent certainty measure will be introduced within one month.

Sadly, though, for Sinn Féin, it is all about the headlines. Those in Sinn Féin have no answers in respect of the obvious effects of the Bill. If landlords exit the market, there will be no rental units. We need a comprehensive package of measures. Fianna Fáil will table amendments to the Government proposal to strengthen the position of tenants and allow for growth in a crucial part of the housing market. This debate is nothing more than a stunt designed for headlines. While we disagree on certain policies, surely we can act responsibly and collectively to solve the problem, rather than simply scoring points at the expense of solving the housing crisis. Fianna Fáil is getting on with working on solutions for this long-term problem. We will continue to work for the benefit of all who are suffering as a result of the failure of Government and actions in the past.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. The issues of housing, rent and rents supports have dominated the Dáil since the election and since before this Government was formed. This is evident by the creation of the Committee on Housing and Homelessness, chaired by my colleague, Deputy Curran.

The seriousness of the issue is something we are all united in acknowledging. I have commented on this on numerous occasions in the Chamber. I note Deputy Ó Broin also raised this matter previously. We need to try to address this in a unified manner rather than score points off each other. We need to tackle the issues at hand. Meath, where I live, is a commuter county. I can see the impact of the housing crisis there and how it affects people in key developing centres such as Navan, Trim, Enfield, Ratoath and Ashbourne. The lack of availability of rental property and property for sale has created a major problem for those trying to get on the property ladder or those simply seeking to rent apartments or houses.

Like Deputy Ó Snodaigh, I talk to the people who come to my constituency office every week. I imagine Deputies from all parties have experienced this; it is not a scenario unique to one party. People facing these issues come to all our constituency offices. Why is that? It is because of key issues, such as supply. The latter is one of the major issues and it is something up to which we must face in this debate. Unfortunately, those in Sinn Féin have shied away from that fact. Like those in AAA-PBP and everyone else in the alphabet parties, they have no concept of the issues involved in the provision of homes, nor do they want to know about it.

I have listened to Deputy Boyd Barrett on numerous occasions. He comes to the Chamber and repeats the mantra that the State, and no one else, should supply housing. There is no mention of the provision of homes by anyone else in the marketplace. I fully believe that the State should build homes. As someone who was a local councillor for 17 years, I am of the view that the way in which local councils were removed from this process was reprehensible. In any event, there is now a major challenge for the State in the context of re-engaging. However, the State alone will not solve the crisis and we need to work on the issues facing builders that can provide homes for the people who have money and who wish to purchase them. Indeed, we must address the realities facing landlords. We must work to keep people in the rental market rather than driving them out of it and having them selling their properties and making the rental situation all the worse. We have concrete proposals relating to local property tax as an expense, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and empty property grants. We all need to be involved in the scrutiny of these proposals. Our party will play a key role in this regard.

Linking everything to the consumer price index is perhaps not the wisest methodology in view of what happened during the period from 2002 to 2014 and what resulted from that. I hope that, as a result of this discussion, we can work these issues out and come forward with solid proposals.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I was on the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness with the proposer of the Bill. I know full well that the proposer is knowledgeable and well-read on this matter. I know that the Bill is not put forward lightly. I listened to the contribution of Deputy Ó Broin earlier, although I was not in the Chamber at the time. He used a term that came up during the committee's meetings. He referred to rent certainty. By the way, rent certainty and security of tenure were issues the committee looked at directly. There is a chapter in our report on the private rented sector. Deputy Ó Broin used a term we used at the committee during his contribution. He referred to rent certainty being tied to an index, such as the consumer price index.

The debate at the committee concerned whether the consumer price index is necessarily the appropriate index for this purpose. While that was the discussion in which the committee engaged - and the one to which Deputy Ó Broin referred tonight - that is not what is contained in his proposal. For those who were not involved with the committee, our report contains a chapter about this proposal. The committee's first recommendation was - sometimes one must refer back - to "Develop and publish a national strategy specifically for the [private rented sector] to address long-term rent certainty, increase affordable supply, improve the quality of accommodation and professionalise the industry." That was our first recommendation and I stand by it. I want to see the strategy published and I want its components to deliver the results we want to see.

I only have 30 seconds left so I will be very direct with the Minister. In his opening comments, he acknowledged the Fianna Fáil amendment but said he would abstain rather than support it. I ask him to think again. The reason he outlined for his abstention relates to his concern about some of the timelines in the amendment. When he first assumed his current role and was preparing his 100-day strategy, initially he was due to run a little over time. When he came under a little pressure, he delivered on it early.

Is the Deputy taking credit for that?

The timelines and the pressure suit the Minister. I feel the same sense of frustration that Deputy Ó Broin feels. There is much going on but what is driving us is an effort to get tangible results. I know that is how Deputy Ó Broin feels. I ask the Minister to consider supporting the Fianna Fáil amendment and working to the timeline set out therein because I believe that it is in the interest of all of us to deliver quickly.

I point out to the House that I was out of order in calling on Deputy Cowen to move the Fianna Fáil amendment because there should only be one amendment before the House at any given time.

We will let the Ceann Comhairle off.

We will toss a coin.

I first refer to the accusation of political gamesmanship. If there is any political gamesmanship here, it is coming from Fianna Fáil, which, as usual, is hiding-----

The Deputy should change the record.

-----behind the confidence-and-supply arrangement and not taking a position on anything. If I have time, I will return to that matter.

I point out to the House that the origins of the Bill - I think Deputy Ó Broin would concede this - lie in a campaign initiated by SIPTU, the Communications Workers Union, CWU, IMPACT, Mandate, Unite, the Civil Public & Services Union, CPSU, and a civil society organisation called Uplift, and supported by the Dublin Tenants Association. I was very happy to sign the Bill on behalf of my colleagues in the Labour Party because it constitutes very much an act of solidarity across the left in this House and in other parts of society. I make no apologies for being part of that and I congratulate Deputy Ó Broin on drafting the Bill and inviting others among us to sign it. This is a focused campaign and a focused Bill, both of which are most urgently needed. The legislation is designed to protect tenants from spiralling rents, short-term leases and summary eviction if their homes are being sold.

The latest Dublin rough sleeper count published today, which showed that 142 people slept out in the cold on 22 November, represents the reality of those whose plight is most extreme. However, there are thousands more individuals and families in emergency accommodation and thousands more again who have a real fear that they will lose their homes through exorbitant rent increases or eviction because the properties are being sold or their leases are running out. These people cannot wait until more homes are built. They need security now.

The Minister has outlined various measures to increase supply, and I understand that they are being put in place. They are welcome but they take time. In the meantime, there are people who simply cannot afford their rent any more or who are in danger of losing their homes. The most recent report by daft.ie, to which Deputy Ó Broin also referred, shows that the annual rate of rent inflation nationwide is 11.7%. People with expertise in housing have predicted impending increases of 25%. As I said, while we all welcome the measures to increase supply, they will not deliver nearly as quickly as rents will increase and as demand exceeds supply in the meantime. Stuck in the middle of this are real people and real families. Their incomes are limited and that most basic of needs, namely, a roof over their heads, is more than they can afford. The measures in the Bill can subvert this and stop the spiral. Linking rent to the cost of living means that increases must be modest. If housing provision is left to the market, the shortage of supply in our cities and other parts of the country, as described by previous speakers, will allow landlords to charge the highest rents they can get. Those who have no choice but to rent will be in competition with each other, with people on the lowest incomes inevitably losing out and forced into, at worst, homelessness and, at best, accommodation that does not meet their needs.

The Minister said that renting can provide a housing option to those who either cannot or choose not to enter the owner-occupier market. However, the fact is that renting is the only option for a growing number of people because they simply cannot get mortgages and cannot afford to buy houses of their own. Yes, there are those who choose not to enter the owner-occupier market. There are many others now for whom it is not a choice but, rather, the only option. Providing for longer Part 4 tenancies and prohibiting the termination of a tenancy because the property is being sold will give security to tenants. Essentially, the three measures proposed in the Bill alter the balance of power between the landlord and the tenant, putting cards in the tenant's hands that are common in other countries where long-term renting is a viable choice. The Minister talked about the need for balance and the issues faced by landlords and property developers. However, the problem is that there are far too many cards in their hands and far too few in those of tenants. There must be balance but I and others argue that the balance is completely on the other side and that we need to give tenants some powers in this regard. The Government amendment declines to accept the Bill and gives as the main reason that it pre-empts the commitment to publish a strategy for the rental sector by the end of 2016. We all look forward to the publication of that strategy. If I thought the strategy would contain the three measures in the Bill, I might not be too concerned, From what I have heard so far, I am of the view that there will be measures but I do not believe that they will be as effective as the three proposed in the Bill.

I have very little time left so I want to return to the accusation of political gamesmanship. In every debate in which I have participated here in recent times, Fianna Fáil has taken this position. It hides and snuggles in behind the comfort blank of the confidence-and-supply arrangement in order that it does not have to do anything. It just fires accusations at the Opposition and issues veiled threats at times to the Minister. Fianna Fáil Deputies tell the Government that if it does not do such and such, they are the lads who have all the power and can pull the plug at any time. That is supreme political gamesmanship. At least the rest of us take positions. We might disagree with each other on matters but we take positions and stand over them. In this case, I am completely in agreement with the Bill proposed by Deputy Ó Broin. I respect the fact that the Minister has a different approach, although I do not agree with him about the balance between the landlord and the tenant.

The Bill is designed to ensure that the tenant has a stronger card to play. This is very much in line with what happens in other European countries and in places such as Canada, where there is a thriving rental market and where people see that they can have security and live all their lives in rented accommodation. In many cases, these are families. In some cases, they are individuals. In any event, they have that secure rental market. If we continue to do nothing because we have accidental landlords - and we do have them - and if we continue to say that we cannot have a properly organised private rented sector because of accidental landlords, we will get nowhere. We need to take the kinds of measures that give tenants security, that ensure that their rent will not spiral out of control and that redress that balance. I do not believe that this will have the disastrous effect on supply being suggested. There is now hoarding of land so that there will be greater profits to be made at a later stage. There are suggestions that we will not see, for example, apartment blocks being built where they are needed because of the cost of development.

The Minister has often quoted the figure that there are approximately 27,000 homes with planning permission in the greater Dublin area that are not being built. We hear the voice of the developer a lot but we must hear the voice of the tenant as well.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger is sharing time with Deputy Boyd Barrett.

People at home would be amazed at some of the goings on in this Chamber.

They sure would.

At a time when rents are increasing exorbitantly, and the figures have already been given, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in particular want us all to sit and wait for their private residential Bill that they have been discussing for a long time before we take any action. The Bill before the House has been asked for by community associations and trade unions and it has been signed by a number of Deputies on that basis.

A survey of 60 cases that the Anti-Austerity Alliance has on its books in Dublin West shows that this Bill would cover 61% of the reasons people become homeless. It covers the issue of rent increases, which the survey indicated was the cause of 19% of people being made homeless. The biggest reason for people becoming homeless, and the reason I will bring forward with the Anti-Austerity Alliance an anti-eviction Bill, is the landlord saying the property must be sold. My figures have this at 31% of cases. The other shyster landlords chancing their arm include those who say they are moving in a family member, accounting for 12% of evictions.

The Government seems to think this Bill is not necessary, which is quite incredible. All the figures have been given for rent increases, which are out of control, and yet the Government sets its face against that. The new argument is this is unconstitutional. I would say I put as much work into the housing committee as anybody else on it and we were all told to put our shoulders to the wheel to come up with solutions. I have not seen any of those adopted. One of the speakers before the committee was Mr. Edmund Honohan, who made it clear, chapter and verse, that there is no constitutional impediment to rent controls or rent certainty. In his testimony, he stated the notion of public interest is extensive and the Legislature's judgment as to what is in the public interest is primary. He went on to say that when the Part V elements were being introduced, it was made clear by the Supreme Court that the achievement of these objectives would be socially just and required by the common good, which speaks volumes. Please do not use that excuse when people are being rack-rented into poverty in this State.

My heart was bleeding as I listened to how these poor landlords would exit the sector, leaving everybody bereft of supply. May we nail this myth once and for all with figures from the Residential Tenancies Board? In 2011, there were 151,034 landlords in quarter one and in 2016 there were 173,956 landlords. That is a massive jump. Why would they leave the sector when it is a bonanza for them? The Government will not bring in rent controls and they can charge what they want, with major power to find all sorts of ways to get rid of a tenant as well. Why would they leave the sector? Please pull the other one and do not use that ridiculous excuse. Fianna Fáil is beneath contempt. It is posing as the Opposition.

It is telling us it will not support rent certainty, despite it supporting the idea when it was represented on the housing committee. When it was let out into the wider sphere and its members are under the party whip, it is a different story.

It is just beyond belief as we know the landlords have a major investment in this Dáil, with 20% to 25% of Deputies having that interest. I await Members' interests being published in January but the figure was at 20% at least. The Minister and Minister of State are landlords so is that the reason they are afraid to take any effective action, I wonder?

Behold the real schism in Irish politics, notwithstanding all the play acting. On the side of the landlords, developers and vulture funds, there are Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and on the other side there are people supporting this Bill, brought forward by Sinn Féin, as it would admit, as a minimum set of steps to do something about a rental emergency that is spiralling out of control. This is the major contributory factor to an unprecedented homelessness and housing crisis. The Government will not even support these minimal measures which will not even address the issue but would begin to offer some sort of certainty and level of control. It is unbelievable.

From the Government and Fianna Fáil amendments we have this nonsense that we must not do anything that will affect the market. The best example, which I love, is that we need a "market-sensitive model". No, we do not. We do not need to be sensitive about developers and landlords making an absolute fortune from extortionate rents and, we should be clear, who have a vested interest in keeping rents high. Why would they want them lower? Deputies might argue that if we get supply, it might bring down the rent but it will not. At the point at which supply will begin to have a downward effect on rent, they will stop the supply. It is just like we know developers hoarded land in the past. The market and the developers will not deliver affordable rents.

It is clear the Minister of State's Government does not want to deliver a position where anybody would have to pay no more than 20% or 30% of income on rent. We have not yet heard it mentioned. Currently, people are paying 60% or 70% of their income on rent in Dún Laoghaire. If the Government is not determined to achieve that position, it will not solve the crisis. It does not want to solve the crisis and the landlords who vote for the Government, even those populating some of these benches, do not have any interest in reducing the profitability of the private rented sector. If the Government were serious, it would have a social housing programme that would take all of those on the housing list into properties with council rents that are controlled and differential, based on people's ability to pay. In the private sector it would introduce rent controls and rent certainty. It is clear that whatever the Minister, Deputy Coveney, comes up with in a few weeks, it will not be rent control. That is clear, as the language is repeated that we must not upset the market or developers because we must get down on our knees to grovel to them. The idea is we must ensure they can make much money as that is the only way we can solve the problem. No, it is not. Those people made a lot of money in the last boom but it did not solve any of these problems or decrease rents. It did not reduce housing lists or make housing or accommodation more affordable. It will not do so this time either.

The Government should just own up. It and Fianna Fáil represents the landlords so they should just admit it rather than offer the pretence they will do something when they refuse to accept the minimal proposals in this Bill to make some difference. Well done to the Secure Rents campaign for raising the matter but we will have to hit the streets to solve this problem as well.

Deputy Mick Wallace is sharing time with Deputies Joan Collins, Pringle and Broughan.

I also support the Bill. We have an uncontrolled rental sector and it will stay uncontrollable until there is proper legislation around the rental market. The Government insists this is linked to the housing crisis and it is certainly a major factor. What are we doing about the housing crisis? It is amazing that the problems we have with the housing crisis and rental market have been with us for so long and yet we still have them because of inaction. One of the main reasons for inaction is because the tendency on the Government side to let the markets at it is too strong.

The Government now argues that this is all about encouraging supply. It has introduced a first-time buyers' grant and prices will be driven up. The Central Bank was made to cut the 20% level for deposits to 10% but that is 10% of what? Properties are unaffordable. This is not necessarily the right way to get builders building. People are forever confusing the developer and the builder but they are two different entities.

The developers feel there is not enough gain in it for them to be building. The Government's failure to do anything about landbanking encourages and incentivises developers to continue to sit on landbanks. Builders, who are different entities, cannot access money. The Government could play a role in all of this by organising for builders to be able to access money. They are not looking to make a profit of €40,000 per unit. They would be happy with €5,000. Builders are not the guys with the money. For the life of me, I do not understand why the Government is not organising the local authorities to build social and affordable housing on land owned by the people. The notion of NAMA building on land owned by the people and selling those properties for €330,000, which most people in Ireland who need a house cannot afford, does not make any sense.

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, spoke about all the things the Government has done and what is going to happen to increase the supply of houses. We have yet to see that happening. We heard the same thing from the previous Minister, Deputy Kelly. The same figures are being thrown out time and again. The rental sector has not been addressed. My constituency office deals with one or two families a week that have received termination orders from their landlords on the basis that they are selling the properties in question or that members of their families are going to move in. These landlords have copped on that this is the best way for them to get rid of people.

The Secure Rents campaign, which has been mentioned already, has three demands. First, it wants rent increases to be linked to the consumer price index. That is very clear. Even though there is a rent cap in place at the moment, rents are continuing to soar. It currently costs €1,800 to rent a three-bedroom house in Dublin 8. It is not possible for people on low wages to meet that cost because they do not have the money. Second, the campaign is calling for the revocation of the right of landlords to evict tenants for the purpose of sale. This is crucial because the Part 4 provisions currently give landlords the right to terminate the residency of tenants who have been in renting for more than six months but less than four years. A longer period of time has to be secured. Third, there has to be a move from the current four-year leases. This is absolutely crucial. If the Minister does not recognise that these are safe actions at this time, and someone rightly described them as the minimum that should be done, he is just not seeing what is happening on the ground, perhaps because he is politically ingrained in the system.

I have previously advocated the provisions that are proposed in this Bill, such as linking rents with the consumer price index, providing greater security of tenure, making Part 4 tenancies of indefinite duration and removing the sale of a property as a ground for terminating a tenancy. Such a system is already commonplace across Europe. Ireland is one of the few European countries in which the mention of a sale by a landlord can result in vacant possession. We are unlikely to see much improvement in the rent security situation when the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government publishes his strategy for the rental sector in the coming weeks.

Any measures that are introduced now will be too late for the 6,525 people who are officially homeless in Ireland. If the Government is to prevent any acceleration in homelessness, it needs to do things it has consistently rejected and refused to do. For example, it needs to intervene in the market. Fine Gael continues to use the age-old excuse that it could not possibly support measures like those proposed in the Bill before the House because such an intervention would have a negative impact on existing and future supply of rental accommodation and would have potential legal and constitutional implications that require careful consideration. In this Dáil, Fine Gael has sided with the property and mortgage industry and left itself open to persuasion by those engaged in a concerted lobbying effort who imply that measures supporting rent certainty and security of tenure are fantastical, ludicrous, economically disastrous, left-wing and radical. Leading bodies like the OECD and the NESC have demonstrated that these proposals have a strong economic justification. A recent OECD study demonstrated that properly constructed rent regulation could result in a revival of the private rented sector.

There will be a spike in homelessness in January because landlords do not tend to turf people out just before Christmas. At a time when more children than ever before are homeless, it would be ludicrous if we were to stand idly by, knowing that the inevitable will happen, and watch as the number of homeless children and families increases in the new year.

I am delighted to have a brief opportunity to express my full support for the Secure Rents and Tenancies Bill 2016. I commend Deputy Ó Broin and his Sinn Féin colleagues on their work on it. This Bill provides for the amendment of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to link rent reviews to the consumer price index. I have been calling for such a measure for many years in this House. Deputy Shortall correctly pointed out recently that the previous Government's pathetic attempt to introduce rent certainty measures will expire on 3 December next, leaving many tenants susceptible to substantial and unaffordable hikes in rent.

Reports on daft.ie constantly highlight rental price increases throughout the country. Annual rent inflation in Dublin stood at almost 12% in the third quarter of this year. Rents are now 10% higher than they were at their previous peak in early 2008. Based on the daft.ie figures, average rents nationwide have increased by 45% since 2011 and are expected to increase by between 22% and 26% over the next two years. It is shocking that on 1 August last, just 3,500 properties were available to rent throughout this country. This compares with 11,000 four years ago. We have a perfect storm. This dire situation needs a fundamental response and the acceptance of this Bill would mark the start of such a response. The Government has set its face against it, however.

My colleague, Deputy Pringle, mentioned the position across Europe. Tenants in Germany, for example, have indefinite security of tenure. Rental prices are linked to the cost of living in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Denmark, all of which have healthy rental markets. It is clear that the greedy madness that enveloped Dublin's rental market in the mid-2000s is again threatening our society. This would not be tolerated in many of our EU partners. We are told to look to those countries in many areas of fiscal policy and other policy, but we seem to avoid doing so in this context. I suggest that an alliance in this House between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is supporting the landlords.

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on the Bill that has been introduced by Deputy Ó Broin, who works hard on the housing committee. The political point scoring that is happening in the House is not much help to the many people who are being evicted, who cannot get accommodation or who are homeless. While this is certainly a huge Dublin problem in the first instance, it is also a problem in my county of Tipperary and everywhere else. The special housing committee that was chaired by Deputy Curran did a lot of hard work when it inquired into this matter and produced its report. It seems to me that something is missing from this debate. We cannot seem to connect or get to the kernel of it. It is getting worse instead of better.

I heard Deputy Jan O'Sullivan attacking Fianna Fáil for point scoring. I remind her that the purse strings were under the control of her colleague, Deputy Howlin, when he served as one of the magic four economic managers for five years until quite recently. What did their gung-ho colleague, the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, do about this issue? It is easy to wring one's hands and attack others. The Labour Party had an opportunity to crack this problem when it was in government in recent times. I accept that Deputy Kelly met many people and organisations when he was the Minister in this area. I am sick and tired of hearing about reports and investigations.

I accept there are bad landlords. Of course there are bad landlords in County Tipperary and elsewhere, but there are many good landlords as well. We cannot demonise them as an endangered species. Some people think landlords are privileged people who wear gold suits, drive around in big cars and are nearly monster-like. We need to get real here. I have to declare that the only house I own is the one I live in with my eight children. I do not have any vested interest in this matter. Some of the people here who seem to have all the answers have never created a job or found a solution to any of these problems. All they do is talk.

My good friend, Deputy Boyd Barrett, is talking about taking to the streets again. What is he going to do? Is he going to get the homeless people to walk around with him? We need a good dose of reality in here. We need to get the local authorities to build houses again as they did in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. They have failed miserably. I read some of the Minister's speech. I did not want to read too much of it because it was another prepared script. We have heard announcements and pronouncements about what the Government does and does not intend to do, but nothing is happening. The system has failed miserably. It is unable to deal with this crisis. It is able to deal with very few crises.

During Questions on Proposed Legislation in the House earlier today, I raised with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, my concerns around the Courts Bill 2016, which is coming down the line and is being debated in committee at the moment. I told the House that the Bill "proposes to have eviction and repossession cases returned to the Circuit Court" once more. This was blocked several months ago when the Land League and other groups prevented cases from going ahead.

Now, the Government is going to release them again. The Circuit Court is unable to deal with these situations and, in many counties, including in my own county, they are dealt with by the county registrars, who are unfit to deal with them. The registrar in my county left for some time and she was then brought back because she did not have enough evictions. This is what we are dealing with. The Circuit Court is not fit for the purpose of eviction from family homes. If the power is restored to the Circuit Court, it will be a recipe for disaster.

We are here talking about reports on housing and housing crisis committees yet, on the other hand, all of us have our heads in the sand with regard to what the banks are doing. They were allowed to destroy families and destroy initiatives not only with regard to families, but also with regard to buy-to-lets and the vulture funds that have been mentioned. It is a merry-go-round. If we go back there again, it will be ridiculous. The nonsense has been put forward by some in this House who are barristers and lawyers that they want this Bill changed because it will save families extra costs. For a family facing eviction who are unable to repay the financial institution, that is a red herring. The real issue is that 8,000 eviction cases have now collapsed as a result of this ruling. That the proposed change in the Courts Bill 2016 cannot be backdated for those 8,000 families is a gravy train for the barristers, with figures of €8,000 per case. It is the vested interests again.

There are complicated issues in this regard. There are 200,000 empty houses, according to the 2016 census. We need to think about that, given that some of these houses could have two or three units of accommodation. Some 80% are bank-forced evictions and there is the de-tenanting of the rental sector. These figures are in the research. There are 400,000 people in financial trouble and all this debt ends up registered on family homes. Where is the fairness and where is the just society? We are doing all of that ahead of this Bill, which is an effort to sort out this problem. We are playing hide and go seek. It is a merry-go-round and we cannot get off it. Someone needs to stop this merry-go-round and jump off, hold it up and expose it to reality.

I heard the other speakers and I support the Fianna Fáil amendment to the Bill. We need better standards, we need proper accommodation and we need some type of NCT-style approach, as mentioned by others, to make sure it is done right. We need to look at the rent certainty pilot schemes in Waterford and Carlow. Ordinary people who happen to become landlords, for whatever reason, did not all set out to be very wealthy people. Some are left a house or inherit a family home and, if they cannot live in it, they are entitled to rent it. There are many good landlords who are looking after their tenants. I would have questions to ask about the agency which advertises every day on the radio - it is the tenancy regulation body, although the name eludes me, but it does not solve many of the problems either.

We need to look at the lack of investment that continued during the boom but, above all, in the past five years, when we had the former Minister, Deputy Howlin, holding the purse strings, and he gathered them like it was his own, personal money. We had the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, who was going to change everything so nobody would be homeless. There are many more issues than will be discussed in this debate. The local authorities need to get back into the market and build and deliver the houses. We could do this in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when there was no mechanisation.

On the point raised by Deputy Wallace, there is the developer and there is the builder. We are demonising the builders as if they were a protected species. They need money but the banks will not give it to them. Much of the problem goes back to the banks that we have bailed out and helped, yet I read today about repossessions. They just pass this from Billy to Jack. They have no interest in ordinary people because all they have an interest in is getting the houses. I will not even go near NAMA, but it is a huge property developer and the scandals going on there, including the knock-off sales to their friends, will be exposed and there will be inquiries into that. We will not have enough retired judges to have all the inquiries in a couple more years. We will have to put a CAO course forward for students to become retired judges in order to be appointed to be chairpersons of this investigation, that investigation and the next investigation. We are just not connected in here; we are not connected to the real issues.

The Deputy should conclude.

We need a dose of reality. All builders and all landlords are not bad people.

I call Deputy Shortall, who is sharing time with Deputy Eamon Ryan.

The Social Democrats are very happy to support this Bill. It is true to say the single greatest failure of this and the previous Government has been their inability to tackle the housing crisis. That has resulted in a situation where untold misery is being caused to many families across the country, from the growing number of children who are growing up in cramped hotel rooms to the many families in emergency accommodation of other types, such as hostel-type accommodation, to those who are sleeping on the streets, who are currently at their highest number ever, and, equally, to the number on housing waiting lists, who are also at their highest number ever. Apart from the fact this is causing personal misery for so many of our people, the failure of the Government to address the housing crisis is also putting huge financial pressure on families who have managed to get housing, whether that is through paying huge prices for the purchase of housing, families who are in negative equity or families who are renting. Huge financial pressure is being put on people who are being stretched because of the difficulty in getting a basic roof over their head.

The other point is that the high cost of housing, whether purchasing or renting, is contributing enormously to fuelling wage demands, and this applies right across the board. If we tackled the unacceptably high level of cost associated with all forms of housing, it would certainly take a lot of the heat out of demands for wage increases. The impact of what the Government has failed to do is very clear in human terms and also in economic terms, and action is urgently required in this regard.

We all need decent housing conditions. It is the most basic of our needs that we have a place we can call home, where we can put down roots in a community, and where we can contribute to building sustainable communities so people can have decent lives. Housing should not be about the property market or getting a foot on the ladder, but that is what it has become in this country. This and the last Government, and other Governments, have been quite happy to leave the issue of housing to the market. They have failed to recognise one of the most basic human needs in our country. They have failed to recognise that the Government has a clear role to play in ensuring housing of all kinds is affordable and does not put people under the kind of pressure we are seeing at the moment.

This Bill is to be welcomed in as far as it goes. We know that while there are problems across the housing spectrum, the area of rental accommodation in particular has become the most expensive and least secure form of housing available to people. Increasingly, because of the lack of affordability for people in buying homes, and particularly because of the lack of funding of local authority house building, what we are now seeing is huge pressure on the rental market, which, in turn, is driving up prices, making it both the most expensive and the least secure. We also know from the latest www.daft.ie quarterly property report that the annual rate of rental inflation is almost 12%, the highest recorded since it started keeping records in 2002. We know from recent public comments by somebody heading up one of the REITs that: “'It’s a great market... We’ve never seen rental increases like this in any jurisdiction”. He then added: "I truly feel badly for the Irish people."'

By all accounts, it is a great market if one is an investor, but that is not what Government should be about. It should be about ensuring decent quality housing for people, whether they are renting or buying. This is the biggest failure we have seen so far from Government. I am happy to support the Bill in so far as it goes. It helps in a minor way and we should, of course, agree it as an emergency measure.

The Green Party is happy to support the Bill and I commend its authors, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin and others in Sinn Féin. We do so because we are in a real rental crisis. The figures have been cited but they bear recall.

Rents have increased approximately 45% in the past five years, we face the prospect of a further 20% rise and the percentage of income going on rent for the 300,000 private rental tenants in the country is way above any international average and is really harming the quality of their lives. It is even worse for those 5,000 families who, because of rent increases, have been forced into emergency hotel and hostel accommodation. We have to address this crisis.

The methods of addressing it to date have gone back to the old ways of trying to pump prime supply by giving tax incentives and other breaks to the developers and building industry. That needs to change. We got into a housing and economic crisis because we relied too much on the developers and gave them too much leeway. We have to change it so that we do not go back to the very conditions that created our housing crisis. That requires a fundamental reassessment of the relative rights of property owners versus renters. As Thomas Drummond famously said, we must recognise that property had its duties as well as its rights. We have to turn to Article 43 of our Constitution which, while it recognises property rights contains the caveat that: "The State, accordingly, may as occasion requires delimit by law the exercise of the said rights with a view to reconciling their exercise with the exigencies of the common good." It is for the common good that we sign this legislation. We cannot wait two or three years for the supply to increase even if we did want to go back to that old way. It is not in tune with where the market is going. By giving security of tenure and rent increases, we will create an environment that is better for developers and builders. I attended the recent Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland conference and heard there that they want to go to this build-to-rent model in which people can expect to live in a development for 20 or 30 years and maybe even move within that development as their family grows or shrinks. That model requires certainty of tenure and rent. It is perfectly plausible for us to introduce these measures to increase the rights of the tenants and, to counter the Minister, it would not kill the development of building opportunities. If anything, we need to create this rental certainty and security of tenure to raise the funds to get people to invest in the buildings we need. That is not happening.

This Bill provides a mechanism to change the whole approach and that is what is badly needed. I do not care about the politics of who is in here, who is up or down, or who has a motion ahead of the other. It is a question of addressing a fundamental crisis, particularly in our cities, and particularly this city. We cannot do nothing about it. We need to act fast and we are very glad to support the Bill with that intent. We hope it does pass and that the rental sector changes.

The Minister of State will have noticed a pattern emerging in this Chamber over recent months: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been contriving on one issue after another to block solutions and progress on many issues facing people outside this Chamber. When we deal with rising and high rents, it has consequences for families and individuals. It adds to the cost of living crisis. There are families deciding now whether to purchase groceries or pay the rent. They have to make these choices every day. This is driving more people into poverty and adding to the homelessness crisis. It is no surprise that today the Dublin Region Homeless Executive published a report that shows that homelessness has increased by 53% in the capital city since last winter.

The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government accused Sinn Féin of playing games on this issue. How dare he accuse us of playing games. We have a responsibility and a job to do. Our job is to legislate, to bring forward solutions. This Bill is a solution. The people who are playing games are the ones who are blocking every solution put forward by the Opposition that will deal with this and many other issues. Every time we bring forward a solution we are told we have to wait, but people cannot afford to wait. They cannot wait any longer. I do not have faith in the ability of Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael to do the right thing on this issue. They can unite to block progress, but not to block tax cuts or a cut in the universal social charge for the wealthy, as we saw in the budget, or in respect of multinational companies and Apple’s tax. It is simply not good enough that we have to hold off on providing solutions.

This country is still in the middle of a housing emergency. Rents and house prices are increasing and we are still talking about issues the Government told us would have been dealt with by now or were in the process of being dealt with. Last June, we discussed this issue when we brought forward our rent certainty Bill. Since then, the Government has done little but spout rhetoric. What was a housing emergency in June has now, on the edge of December, gone well beyond an emergency especially as the temperatures drop. As we all know, the price of renting has increased so much that it is now cheaper in some cases to have a mortgage. In my constituency, Dublin North West, it costs approximately €1,300 a month to rent a two-bedroom house and €1,500 for a three-bedroom house.

Given that there are 750,000 people in the private rental sector across the State, a quarter of all households in Dublin rent. There are many low and middle income families relying on the private rental sector to put a roof over their heads. These families live with insecurity of tenure and spiralling rents. Couples and families who are working in good jobs come to my office because they cannot afford to keep up with rent increases. They are paying up to 60% of their disposable incomes on rent and are now in danger of becoming homeless. These families need immediate action, not rhetoric from Government.

This Bill will do three things for tenants: provide for rent certainty with rent increases and decreases linked to the consumer price index; amend section 28 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2015 by changing the duration of Part 4 tenancies from four years to an indefinite period - this would give tenants and landlords the option of securing long-term leases, providing greater certainty for both parties; and, finally, it will remove the sale of property as grounds for a landlord to terminate a lease. These are three simple but important changes to help working families who are finding it increasingly hard to keep a roof over their heads. Any State that professes to call itself a democracy should be able to supply basic housing. However, the current housing emergency does not seem to bother many in this House. There are many in this House who are landlords. They should declare their interest and desist from voting on this Bill because it is an obvious conflict of interests.

My last engagement on Monday before I travelled here was to meet a constituent in a fast food restaurant connected to a hostel. He had been living there for approximately 14 months. He told me of his situation and wanted support to apply for local authority housing and advice. He has three children and faces his second Christmas in that place. Despite the fact that the owner of the hostel was willing to provide him with very good references, which he showed me, he has not been able to find anything. That is the human cost of our housing crisis. It is affecting his children. He was doing his best but I could see that his dignity and pride were deeply hurt and that it was having a significant impact on his family.

It is no great surprise to me that the ninth report of the special rapporteur on child protection published in the past couple of weeks found that Ireland is operating contrary to international law on the basis of the number of children placed in emergency accommodation. That is an indictment of the failure of successive Governments to deal with the housing crisis. It requires that we take steps to minimise whatever harm or dangers exist as regards children in such emergency accommodation, but it also requires that we deal with the housing crisis. That is not just about the building and construction of local authority housing, it is also about ensuring that this rental crisis, which is absolutely rampant in urban areas in particular at present, is tackled.

In my constituency, the rate of increase has been exceeding that of Dublin for nearly two years. It was at a rate of approximately 14.4% in the last daft.ie report and the average cost of a three-bed house in Cork city for that period was in the region of €1,087, but much higher than that in certain neighbourhoods such as Douglas, Blackrock and Mahon. In those areas, it is far in excess of that. This has meant that it is absolutely impossible to find accommodation, particularly for people on lower incomes, whether it is through HAP or anything of that nature. It is an indictment of any of the Deputies of Cork South-Central if they fail to support this important legislation that will make such a concrete difference.

People have been accused of using this to play politics. I have constituents calling to see me regularly. Often, they are people from other parts of Europe who might have been served with their notice or who are trying to find a new tenancy. They just cannot believe how poor the protections are here. They cannot believe how weak the position of the tenant is in this country. Objectively, by any standards, the protections that exist for tenants in this country are absolutely brutal and that certainly needs to be tackled. This is why I believe that not only is the rent certainty element so important, but so is the extension and strengthening of tenancies of indefinite duration. It is one step of many that need to be taken to ensure that tenants have security of tenure and feel confident that they can have some kind of security in their lives and in their tenancies.

This is absolutely essential legislation. The Government should support it. Fianna Fáil, in particular, should support it rather than shedding crocodile tears over the rental crisis. It is widely-supported legislation as well in terms of SIPTU, Mandate, the CWU, the Dublin Tenants Association and Uplift. That shows how wide the support is for legislation that will make a significant difference in halting the rampant increases in rental prices and provide some kind of security for our tenants.

Before I call on the Minister of State to respond and the Sinn Féin Members to wrap up, a little earlier Deputy Coppinger made reference to the Minister and the Minister of State being landlords. She seemed to me to intimate that they were motivated by self-interest in terms of the legislation that is being moved. I intimated to Deputy Coppinger as she left that I would consider that to be a personal charge rather than a political charge, one that is not really in keeping with the traditions of the House and one that should be withdrawn.

On a point of order, she asked a question. She did not make a statement.

I considered it to be an intimation.

Earlier, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, outlined the Government's absolute commitment to resolving our national housing crisis. That crisis is affecting all parts of the housing sector, including the rental sector. Our approach must, therefore, be holistic and founded on the realisation that all parts of the housing sector are interlinked and interdependent.

It was precisely because of rent increases that the Government introduced a package of rent stability and additional housing supply measures last November. The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 introduced a number of measures to address rising rents. With regard to rent stability, the Act provided that the minimum period between rent reviews for tenancies increased from 12 to 24 months. The provision will apply for a four-year period. In addition, the minimum period of notice of new rents was increased from 28 days to 90 days and longer notice periods for the termination of long-term tenancies were introduced. The extension of the period between rent reviews from 12 months to 24 months takes effect from the date of the last review. If a tenant had a rent review in July 2015, the next review would not be until July 2017.

There is, however, no question but that pressures on the rental market remain driven by rising demand, which is a result of the economic recovery, by a lack of supply and by the high costs that highly-indebted landlords face in servicing their loans. These pressures are borne out by the data published by the Residential Tenancies Board Ireland and in the daft.ie rental reports. Fundamentally, the increases in rent have been driven by a mismatch between the additional demand associated with the very welcome economic recovery and a lack of a corresponding response in supply. The best way to reduce and stabilise rents in the long term and to benefit the entire sector is to increase supply and accelerate delivery of housing for private and social rental sectors.

Unfortunately, there is no on-off button for the delivery of additional rental accommodation. It takes time for the supply measures in particular to take effect and alleviate some of the pressures. The aim of Rebuilding Ireland, the Government's action plan on housing and homelessness, is to increase and accelerate housing delivery across all tenures to help individuals and families meet their housing needs. It sets out more than 80 actions that the Government is taking through new policy, new legislation and innovative measures in the budget to achieve that aim.

As the Minister, Deputy Coveney, outlined earlier, pillar 4 of the Government's action plan commits to developing a comprehensive strategy for the rental sector by the end of this year in just a few weeks' time. The strategy for the rental sector will lay out measures to address immediate issues affecting the supply, the cost and the accessibility of accommodation. In particular, the strategy will consider measures to increase security of tenure and will consider the potential of new mechanisms for both setting and reviewing rents. The strategy will also focus on maintaining existing levels of rental stock and encouraging investment in additional supply. Most importantly, the strategy will set out the wide-ranging actions this Government will take to get us the type of mature and stable sector we want to see and which reflects our changing housing demand and supports continued recovery for our modern economy.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly is sharing time with Deputies Ó Broin and Tóibín. Is that correct?

We are happy to take the Minister of State's extra seven minutes, if the Ceann Comhairle will give it to us.

On you go. The time is there.

According to the latest daft.ie rental report, from which several people have quoted from, rent in my constituency is on average €1,320 per month. That is a 3.8% increase since the second quarter of the year and a 12.1% increase on last year. Indeed, with the exception of four and five-bed houses, the average rent for properties in the area in which I live and in the constituency that I represent surpasses the average monthly mortgage payment for those self-same properties.

I am proud to be the daughter of parents who were housing activists in the 1960s. I am sure that it gives them no pleasure if they are watching this to see that their daughter still has to campaign and agitate for something as simple and as basic as security of tenure. I do not wish in any way to be personal but I would ask those Members who are not going to support the Bill whether they have ever rented and whether they have ever felt the unease that is caused by renting and by not having the type of security that should really be a basic and a given. It is regrettable that it is not. I rented for years when my daughter was young. I hated it. I hated not knowing where we were going to live at the end of the lease. I hated having to go cap in hand to my landlord to find out if he was going to renew the lease. People in that situation cannot make plans. It is bad when one is single, but it is worse when one has children. One cannot plan, know or look to the future. One is relying on goodwill and that is not good enough.

In the 1960s, my mother and father were active in the Dublin Housing Action Committee. They achieved quite an amount through direct action at the time. It is heartbreaking to look around and see how far back we have travelled. I was out last week with members of an organisation called Humans Too.

They were delivering food and clothes to people who were sleeping on the streets. There are no words to describe what those people will face tonight. It is absolutely freezing outside. I was freezing coming over to the House this evening. We have a crisis and we know that. When I had finished the soup run, which is not something I do often, I sat into my car and I was very upset, as anyone would be. We have an opportunity to do something about this tonight.

The people I spoke to had, to use an expression that members of the Government use but which I do not use because I do not like it, fallen into homelessness. That sounds like it is an accident but it is not; it is the result of policy. It is not an accident. They did not fall into homelessness. They did not trip up and accidentally find themselves homeless. They became homeless because of Government policy.

There is an opportunity this evening for Members in this Chamber to make a clear statement about security of tenure and the value we place on that. I urge every Deputy to consider what it is like for those people who are facing homeless now or who will face it in the coming weeks and, in that context, to support this Bill.

One of the most shocking aspects of this whole process for me is the realisation that Fine Gael is actively seeking to increase house prices and rents in this State. I say that in a very measured manner. I remember a number of months ago sitting across from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and trying to make him understand the difficulties in the rental and housing market at that time. Over and over again he said that house prices have to rise, that there was no profit in building and that we had to see house prices increase. Last week, I said to Deputy Alan Farrell that Fine Gael was actively seeking to increase rents and house prices. I expected an energetic response, a backlash, from him, but he agreed with me. He said that we have to see house prices increase so that it will be worthwhile for people to actually build. It is astounding, three years into this housing crisis, that this is the true motivation behind the Fine Gael housing policy.

We have seen astronomical rents achieved by a purposeful retrenchment in the building of social housing over the last number of years. We have seen activity by real estate investment trusts, REITs, and vulture funds, as well as tax breaks and help to buy schemes, which have poured petrol on a housing market that is already out of control. The result is chaos for people all over the country.

If the Government believes that a garda in Dublin earning €23,000 will be able to pay €15,000 for housing per year, then its maths is completely astray. There is not a sector in society that is not suffering as a result of rent inflation. Rent inflation is fuelling pay inflation as families struggle around the country. The mistakes the Government is making in this sector are causing problems in other sectors too.

Last week, a young mother called Caoimhe Murtagh, who is seven months pregnant, had no choice but to sleep rough in Market Square in Navan. She is expecting a child in eight weeks and is absolutely terrified that she will not have a stable space for herself and her baby. She has also been separated from her three year old son as she obviously could not bring him with her as she slept at a bus stop overnight. She is facing Christmas in bed and breakfast accommodation along with thousands of others. She has been approved for the housing assistance payment, HAP, but the supply of housing is just not there and the prices are far too high for her. She is probably going to join hundreds of other people in County Meath who have been forced, in a tidal wave of people, westwards. People from Ratoath in County Meath have ended up in Kells, Oldcastle, Cavan and Leitrim in the search for affordable accommodation.

Clearly, now is the time to act. We have demand-pull inflation and the Government cannot let this rent inflation crisis continue. I appeal to the Government, in the run up to Christmas, to accede to the logical tying of rent to inflation in this country so that people can have some idea of what level of rent they will have to pay.

I thank Independents4Change, the Labour Party, the Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit, the Social Democrats, the Green Party and others not only for supporting this Bill, but for co-signing it, which sends a very important signal to the other parties in the House and to the public. I would also like to congratulate the Secure Rents campaigners and urge them to keep up the campaigning activities in which they have been involved in the run up to the publication of the Government's strategy.

I would like to respond to some of the comments of the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, and of Deputies from Fianna Fáil. The Minister is correct that no political party has a monopoly on compassion and nobody from Sinn Féin has suggested otherwise. Compassion will not solve this crisis; correct policies from the Government will. The Minister believes he has a comprehensive strategy, but Sinn Féin disagrees. There is no doubt that there is a strategy but it is reliant on the same fundamental policy flaws of previous Governments, namely, an over reliance on the private sector to deliver social and affordable housing and an under investment in proper public housing. The Minister can say as often as he wants that there will be a 50% increase in capital investment next year but all this Government is doing is reversing the cuts the Fine Gael Party introduced when it first came into office in 2011.

The Minister questioned our commitment to his process. It is not our process but we are engaging with it constructively. We make detailed submissions, we engage in committees and so forth but we have a right, if not a responsibility, to raise issues on the floor of the Dáil and attempt to exert pressure on the Government to do things that we believe it would not otherwise do and I make no apology for that. As for playing politics, the reality for struggling renters and homeless people is not a game and there is nobody on this side of the Chamber who is attempting to play politics.

When the Minister came into the Chamber earlier, he suggested that Sinn Féin's problem is that we do not have enough patience. I would have some sympathy with that argument if the Minister was only six months in office but he sat at the Cabinet table when the last Government refused to introduce the rent certainty measures that the Labour Party was rightly arguing for at that time. I presume, because he did not say anything to the contrary, that he blocked the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, from introducing the kinds of measures that Sinn Féin is currently proposing. He has had plenty of time to introduce those very measures.

The central problem here is that Fine Gael is against rent certainty. The idea that the cause of the crisis is a mismatch between supply and demand ignores the fact that during the boom when we had the greatest supply of rental properties in the history of the State rents continued to rise. This is good legislation which anybody who is serious about tackling the rental crisis would support.

As for Fianna Fáil, the first thing I would point out is that the amendment that party proposed cannot be tabled. Deputy Barry Cowen is around long enough to know that but he wanted the cover of the amendment to justify opposition to the Bill. What is more remarkable is the fact that Fianna Fáil Deputies supported the three measures in this Bill when they sat on the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness only a few months ago. One Deputy suggested that we had not put enough time and effort into this. We spent seven weeks at that committee and had hours of hearings with experts in the rental sector, with constitutional lawyers and so on. We listened to all of their advice and agreed the three recommendations in this Bill, unanimously. All of a sudden Fianna Fáil no longer thinks that the proposals its Deputies supported in June are credible policies to support in legislation.

The real problem is that Fianna Fáil has nothing to say on security of tenure. It does not even mention it in its amendment, despite the fact that it makes up two thirds of the Bill, and it is not willing to support rent certainty either. There is no point in Deputies coming into the House and saying they will support it if, when it comes to voting on it, they vote against it, not once, not twice but three times. Tomorrow will be the third time they will have opposed this measure.

I want to deal with the issue that the measures in this Bill will hurt landlords and hurt supply, neither of which is backed up by any evidence. The rental yields currently in the Irish market are the highest in the European Union so capping rents with the consumer price index now will have no negative impact on future supply. In fact, when I talk to landlords, and Sinn Féin is not anti-landlord as we want good quality landlords operating in the market, they tell us that security of tenure and security of rent over a long period is better for them because many of them suffered when prices crashed at the start of the recession and would have liked to have rent certainty during that period.

We have debated these issues at great length in the Committee on Housing and Homelessness and in this Chamber. There is compelling evidence from academic experts, international best practice and our own knowledge of the rental market that these three measures will make a real difference. Will they solve all the problems in the rental market? Of course they will not, and in the detailed submission Sinn Féin made to the rental strategy review of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, which we will publish next week, we have made many other proposals. However, if these measures had been introduced when Sinn Féin proposed rent certainty last June, fewer families would be homeless and families would not be paying the jacked up rents they are now paying. If we were to agree the security of tenure measures, fewer families would become homeless in the coming months and fewer families and children would be living in emergency accommodation.

This is a simple, sensible and modest Bill. Any Deputy who claims to have compassion on this issue should be ashamed of themselves if they do not vote for this legislation.

Amendment put.

In accordance with Standing Order 70(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Thursday, 1 December 2016.

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