I beg to ask the leave of the Dáil to introduce the Bill of which I have given notice. The Bill is one to improve the position of tenants of certain houses, shops and other buildings in Saorstát Eireann. The short title is the Town Tenants Bill. The main object of this Bill is to apply the principle of the Land Act of 1881 to tenancies other than agricultural ones. The main principles of that Act are familiar to everyone in this country, namely, fixity of tenure, free sale and fair rent, and the object of this Bill is to ameliorate the existing hardships and to remedy the long-felt need of the tenants in the towns.
The Bill proposes to apply to all contracts of tenancy from week to week and upwards, and in that way to enlarge the scope of the existing Town Tenants Act. It will include all classes of holdings, namely, dwellinghouses, shops and other buildings, or parts of buildings, and for the information of the House I may say it does not intend to apply to existing leaseholds. It will not be until the expiration of existing leaseholds that this proposed Bill will apply to them.
There is a small amount of public expenditure involved in this Bill, but it is very small, and it is only for the purpose of the setting up of a Town Tenants Commission, consisting, as it is proposed, of a Chief Commissioner and three Sub-commissioners, on the lines of the Land Commission. I do not think it will be necessary for me to say any more on the subject at this stage, and I ask permission to have the Bill printed and circulated.
