Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 12 Dec 2023

Vol. 1047 No. 4

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) (No. 2) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members]

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

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

As the Minister knows, this Christmas morning more than 4,000 children will wake up in emergency accommodation. They will not wake up in a home of their own but in a hub, hostel or bed and breakfast. Other children will wake up in the accommodation of family and friends. Astonishingly, some may even wake up rough sleeping. This is the single highest number of children in Government-funded emergency accommodation since any records began, not just the recent series released by the Department but, in fact, since the census recorded these figures. As the Minister knows, the most recent figures show that more than 13,000 adults and children were in emergency accommodation funded by the Department. That is an increase of almost 20% on last year.

However, when the length of time the Minister's partners in government, Fine Gael, have been in office is considered, or his own time through confidence and supply and as Minister, it can be seen that no matter what the starting point, the number of adults, children, singles, families and pensioners in emergency accommodation on his watch and that of his partners in government has increased substantially. In fact, in 2011, when Fine Gael first took office, just over 600 children were recorded as being in emergency accommodation in that year's census. That was at the depth of the recession after several years of harsh austerity budgets implemented by the Minister's party, in the first instance. Since then, the economy, at a macroeconomic level, has rebounded. We are now at a stage of almost full employment, tax revenues are buoyant and we have huge surpluses. Yet, year on year and month on month, under the Minister's watch, homelessness increases.

The question "Why?" has to be asked. This is not a force of nature. This is not something that can be blamed on anything else bar Government policy. Remarkably, the Government had lower social housing targets in its housing plan than those in the previous Fine Gael NDP by approximately 1,000 units a year. Also, year on year, the Government has consistently missed those targets and is likely to miss those targets again, even if it does slightly better than last year. It is not just that the Government is missing its social housing targets. Its affordable housing targets are the most embarrassing. I spoke to a member of a leading NGO dealing with homelessness last week, who said that research it is working on, which it will publish next year, is showing that the number of people whose incomes are above the threshold for social housing, who are in full-time employment and are now in emergency accommodation, has grown very significantly. The Government continues to rely on the private rental sector to meet social and affordable housing need at a time when that sector is in deep crisis and fails to deliver social and affordable housing. That is the reason these numbers are going in the direction they are.

One of the most remarkable things about budget 2024 is that it does not have a single additional measure to try to tackle the rise in families becoming homeless or to accelerate the exit of those people from emergency accommodation. There is not a single measure above what the Government was going to do anyway. That is in stark contrast to the Sinn Féin alternative budget. When I listen to the Minister, he never seems to know which document he is talking about because he tells us it was published before the budget and then after. He tells us it is two pages long and then it is something more. I remind him, as we do every year, that the Sinn Féin document sets out very clearly how a government that is serious about building social and affordable homes at scale could deliver 20,000 of those homes next year. The problem is not that the Minister cannot do it. He lacks the ambition and the support from his Cabinet colleagues to do it.

We also outlined very clearly how, through using emergency planning and procurement powers, new building technologies, and vacant and derelict homes, at least an additional 1,000 units could be supplied to end homelessness for the over-55s in a single year and dramatically reduce the number of adults and children in emergency accommodation. The Government has signed up to the Lisbon declaration, which is very laudable, but it has no plan to reduce year on year the number of people in emergency accommodation. We have long called on the Minister to double the number of Housing First tenancies for those 6,000 single people, many of whom are not currently eligible for the scheme because the threshold is set too high and there are not enough places, to deliver at least 500.

The Minister likes to take credit for the tenant in situ scheme even though he sat on his hands for two years and refused to open the scheme. The number of families or single people who would not have become homeless if he had acted in 2020 and 2021, when we urged him to, can be imagined. I acknowledge, because it is the right thing to do, that the tenant in situ scheme for social housing is now working in most local authorities, although there are still problems in some, but cost-rental tenant in situ continues to underperform. It is in the same place tenant in situ was in April last year and needs more attention.

Our alternative budget shows there are choices. We do not have to allow homelessness to increase year on year and we do not have to allow more children and pensioners to spend Christmas in emergency accommodation, but all of that will only be possible if the Government takes the kind of emergency action we are proposing. The Minister will know the Bill very well. It is an exact replica, with some minor changes, of legislation the Minister introduced last year. As we said then and I say now, we are not saying that this Bill fixes the problem but it gives crucial breathing space. First, it gives breathing space to those adults and children who are currently at imminent risk of presenting into emergency accommodation and will spend Christmas and the new year in homeless accommodation unless something is done. It also provides emergency breathing space for the Minister to take the kinds of actions that I, along with other members of the Opposition and NGOs dealing with homelessness, have been asking for since the start. The Minister squandered that opportunity last year. That is why a ban on evictions where tenants had done nothing wrong was not as effective as it would have otherwise been, but it had an impact last year. Family presentations fell month on month while the ban was in place and singles were soon to follow. We are here, therefore, at the mouth of Christmas to ask the Minister not to let homelessness rise over the coming weeks and months, and to support this Bill.

As I am sure the Minister's officials have told him, there are some drafting errors on page 4 of the Bill. These would be easily dealt with through expedited Committee and Remaining Stages. If the Government is serious, it will not only allow this Bill to go through but will discuss with the Opposition the provision of additional time tomorrow and Thursday to get it through Committee and Remaining Stages.

We do not need scrutiny, as this was done last year with the Minister's legislation. We could then get it through the Seanad on Friday for the President to be able to enact next year. If the Minister does not do that, what will happen is on the watch of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. It will be more women, more men, more children and more pensioners in emergency accommodation. It is not acceptable and it does not have to happen. On that basis I commend this Bill to the House.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

I thank my colleague Deputy Eoin Ó Broin for introducing this Bill and for all the work he does in this area. I hope the Minister will take the time over Christmas to really acquaint himself with the solutions to the crisis we are dealing with. That is what this is. It is effectively an emergency response to a crisis.

The Bill seeks to change the law so that ordinary workers, families and children cannot be evicted when they have done nothing wrong. Through no fault of their own people are being evicted. The Minister knows that this is happening. This is happening in the Minister's own area. I know this because it is my area and they are coming to me looking for help. The Minister knows it because I am sure he is also receiving emails. I am seeing people in my constituency offices and the fear they have around eviction is very real. They are worried and panicked because there is nowhere for them to go. As an Teachta Ó Broin has outlined, the Minister has failed to hit his targets on social and affordable housing. The end result of this is that people in the private rental sector are nervous and anxious because there is nowhere for them to go when they get that notice to quit.

Last week in this Chamber I spoke about how rents had increased across north County Dublin from €1,762 per month to €2,158 per month since the Minister's Government was elected. I also pointed out that not only has the cost of renting exploded under this Government but the available housing stock to rent has also plummeted. Today there are 351 properties on Daft.ie for long-term rent in north County Dublin. That is 355 properties to rent in a local authority area with 330,506 people in it. This situation is really desperate and despite what the Minister says, and says again, it is only getting worse. This proposed legislation is an emergency response to a crisis situation. An Teachta Ó Broin has outlined in detail how we can and should do this. We can act quickly, we can be nimble and we can do this. The Minister's Government are not opposing this legislation but they need to support it and ensure it becomes law in the manner outlined to avert a crisis for many families.

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

From just the last two weeks I will give three examples of people who are facing notices to quit. A man in his mid-60s is currently overholding. He only recently qualified for social housing. He is overholding by a good bit but is being allowed to convalesce from a hip replacement over the Christmas period. He will be out by January and he will most certainly end up in emergency accommodation. A nurse in her 30s who worked all through the pandemic and did whatever she could to help this country at its time of need was disqualified from social housing by being a little over the income threshold by about €1,000. She now faces a notice to quit and is looking at emergency accommodation. A mother of four, including two boys around the age of nine, is facing a notice to quit. She is not on the social housing list. She would likely qualify but it will not do her much good. Expectations are so low that her only ask is that she would be able to get emergency accommodation near enough to the school where her children go. That is all she is looking for at the minute. She has no great expectation of being offered a home at this point in time. That is how low expectations are. A no-fault eviction ban protecting tenants who have done nothing wrong and who have kept up their side of the bargain would protect and support these people. I urge the Minister to expedite this urgently. It will not solve all the problems but it can, undoubtedly, assist. The Minister talks about Sinn Féin not having policies and proposals. The Minister talks about the two pages as opposed to the 20-odd page document. I do not think the Minister believes that Sinn Féin does not have proposals. There is plenty in this legislation, and plenty in terms of what we have outlined, that can very significantly assist.

Last week the Minister instanced the Blackrock housing development, which I look forward to seeing. When the Minister comes down to see that scheme on completion, will he come 800 m down the road to look at the 16 houses that would not be there except that Sinn Féin votes were enough to get the scheme through? Fianna Fáil councillors, including Councillor Seán Martin, voted against it. When the new affordable housing scheme in Mallow is launched at some stage in the next while, perhaps the Minister will take a spin out to Kanturk to see the social housing scheme that Fianna Fáil councillors, including councillor Seamus McGrath, opposed.

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh

There are 220 homeless children in counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. There was one person homeless in 2014. That just demonstrates how the situation has gotten worse under the Minister's watch. Every month the number of homeless people increases on the Minister's watch. Behind these figures are real families and people who desperately need somewhere to live. They are scared that they will not even be able to get bed and breakfast accommodation vouchers if the council has not put anything in place before the holidays. People have a real fear of that. The council offices will close. When the office is closed and people become homeless, they have to go to the Garda station. That is a fact. I checked it yesterday with Mayo County Council. With this Bill we are only asking for the Minister to stop the no-fault evictions over the winter months to give these people a chance. This is a most modest proposal. It is just a few months where parents do not have to live in fear of eviction. It is a humanitarian pause for renters and a lifeline for those at the sharpest end of the housing crisis. Ireland is an outlier in Europe for allowing no-fault evictions. It is only in Ireland and Britain that this harsh form of eviction takes place in Europe. International evidence and Scotland's experience of banning no-fault eviction show that the measure does not harm the rental sector or make landlords leave the market. The claim that allowing no-fault evictions is somehow better for renters is purely a myth used by politicians who have no interest in protecting the people from homelessness. These are politicians who have overseen the explosion of homelessness across the State. Again we give the Government the chance to stop these no-fault evictions. The Minister's weak excuse for not taking the most basic actions to protect people from homelessness does not wash with people. It is shameful that this will be the legacy of the Government. It is never too late to do the right thing. The Minister can do it now. It is within his gift to do so by supporting this legislation.

Deputy Denise Mitchell

Here we go again. Another year, another Christmas, and another record for the Minister's Government for all the wrong reasons. There are 13,179 people in emergency accommodation and 3,991 of them are children. This is a shocking increase of 1,782 people since October 2022.

The Minister tells us that the Housing For All plan is working, so how have we gotten to this point? It cannot be working with more and more people entering homelessness, month after month after month. The people know who caused this absolute mess and crisis for ordinary working families. It is the Minister's party, Fianna Fáil, and it is Fine Gael.

I want to ask the Minister a few questions tonight. What does the Minister say to people who contact him desperate to put a roof over their heads this Christmas? What does the Minister say to the mother whose child is asking how Santa will come into the hotel room with the presents? What does the Minister say to the family asking themselves as they face Christmas dinner sitting in a hub how they got there? This is a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policy disaster that will live in the memory of people the Minister has failed.

This no-fault eviction ban will keep people in their rented accommodation and will stop children and families entering homelessness. We believe the Minister is not opposing this legislation but I ask him to act on it by progressing it on Committee Stage quickly and introducing it as law.

Otherwise, we will have the same old cynical Fianna Fáil: another stroke, especially at Christmastime, to save face. People need certainty, a roof over their head and no more no-fault evictions.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

In County Meath, we are living with a 12.5% increase in annual rents. Average standardised monthly rents are €1,501 but there is huge variation across the county. Today on Daft.ie, there are no one-bedroom properties in Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne and surrounding areas. Two-bedroom properties rent at €1,850 in Ashbourne, €2,000 in Ashbourne, €1,800 in Dunsany and €2,100 in Dunboyne. For three-bedroom properties, it is €2,500 in Ashbourne, €2,700 in Dunboyne, €2,500 in Dunshaughlin and €2,300 in Ashbourne. People cannot afford these rents. Similarly, the Minister’s supports for people buying new homes are failing miserably. They drive up the price of homes. His affordable homes scheme is paltry and, even more importantly, not affordable. Meath County Council said as much when defending its decision to propose a new social development in Ashbourne without a single affordable unit. The prices are too high, in its words. The scheme does not work, in my words. HAP rates come nowhere near making rents affordable. That is if you can get a landlord to take you on HAP.

On the Minister’s plans to prevent homelessness after he cruelly lifted the eviction ban, there are many barriers to the tenant in situ scheme and even more to the cost rental tenant in situ scheme. His plans on first refusal are confused to the point of being rubbish. This has a real impact. Today I spoke to a lady who, along with her partner and young son, is two weeks away from a second Christmas in emergency accommodation. The lady has a disability and considerable medical needs. HAP is the only option on paper but in practice there are no HAP properties available. There is no way out of emergency accommodation for this family. This accounts for just one of the more than 100 children who will be homeless in County Meath this Christmas, and more than 4,000 across the State. Shamefully, these figures continue to increase. If they included those sofa surfing or inadequately housed, they would be far higher.

My colleagues in Sinn Féin and I will hold a protest and sleep-out next Monday to raise funds for SVP. It is a damning indictment of Government policy. This situation arises as a direct result of Government policy.

I welcome the fact that the Government is not opposing the legislation but it is not enough not to oppose it; it must be enacted. Anything else is political manoeuvring of the highest order. The Minister needs to act on it now.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Darragh O'Brien)

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for tabling the Private Members' Bill again. Much of what we are discussing this evening was discussed last week, though the Sinn Féin motion did not include this proposal to reintroduce a temporary moratorium on evictions over the winter period. We have to make sure anything we do in the private rental sector does not make the situation worse. I have said here many times that the private rental sector, as it stands, is not functioning as it should. We need a functioning private rental sector.

That is why I am not supporting the legislation. We will oppose it, to be clear on that for Deputies. We will oppose it for good reason, which I will outline. We brought in the moratorium last winter to provide an opportunity to bring additional stock in while in the throes of a constrained accommodation crisis, particularly in the area of emergency accommodation. My number one priority is those who do not have a home at all. We have ensured through funding this year of €302 million for homeless services and emergency accommodation that emergency accommodation is available for people who need it. All of us in this House want to ensure we can exit people from emergency accommodation into safe and secure housing.

Deputy O'Rourke mentioned HAP tenancies. One of the reasons it is difficult to get those tenancies relates to how the private rental market is functioning right now. We are, on average, securing 680 to 700 new HAP tenancies per month. That does not meet demand. Things that affect the private rental market are continually changing it and changing the landscape for those who own properties, which then leads to a further flight of properties from the market and makes it more difficult. I am sure Deputy Ó Broin has engaged with property owners in this space and they have told him that directly. The last thing I want to do is support a measure that will make the situation worse, while it remains challenging.

I welcome the support Deputy Ó Broin has given the tenant in situ scheme. We need to make sure people are supported when landlords exit. We have more than 1,300 sales concluded under the tenant in situ scheme, a further 1,260 at various stages of sale approved and going through conveyancing, and a further 1,000 into next year. I will be continuing that scheme into next year. It has been very successful. We will continue to support it. We are, in the main, ending HAP tenancies and converting them into permanent social housing, as we are ramping up social housing supply, which I will speak to in a moment.

The tenant in situ scheme is complemented by the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme. I never expected the numbers to be great in that space but where landlords are selling it gives an option to people who cannot afford to purchase the home, are above the social housing limits and want to stay in that home. We have about 150 landlords and properties in that space through the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme. That is set up on an administrative basis but I intend early next year to legislate for it.

We are using the first-home tenant in situ scheme, which Deputies opposite opposed. It has been successful across the country in helping first-time buyers. There have been over 7,000 registrations and nearly 3,000 approvals. Included in those approvals are the first 60 households which have been approved to purchase properties they wish to stay in from their landlords. Those measures are in place to assist. We need to ensure we are exiting more people from homelessness and I will turn to that in a moment.

Supply is key across the board. We will attain our social housing target this year across all tenures and deliver more new-build social homes than we have done in decades. We have a strong pipeline for next year and will have strong delivery in the last quarter of this year. That is because of the Housing for All plan. In every city, town and village around the country, people will see good quality social homes being built for individuals and families. Planning permission data published last week showed nearly 9,700 homes were granted permission in quarter 3, an increase of 43% on the same quarter of 2022. It also shows residential planning permissions granted from January to December were up 13% on the same period last year.

Commencements are important because they are housing starts. In October 2023, there were 2,624, up 42.5% on the number of new homes commenced in October 2022. More than 26,500 new homes were commenced in the first nine months of this year. That is about 16.5% up on last year. Momentum on housing delivery is increasing substantially across all tenures. Important within that are completions. There were 8,452 completions in quarter 3 of this year. That is up nearly 15% on last year. We completed 22,500 homes in the first nine months of this year. I can confidently predict we will exceed our target substantially this year on housing delivery. By the end of this year, since I took over as Minister we will have delivered 100,000 new homes and have a strong pipeline into next year.

We have had ten years of significant undersupply of housing.

We are catching up. There are many out there who are not feeling the change, but I am meeting tenants right across the country who are getting their new social homes in all 31 local authorities of this Republic. If one looks at construction and compares us with the rest of Europe or looks outside of Europe, of 19 different European countries compared in the Euroconstruct report, Ireland is the only one this year where construction activity is increasing. It will increase further next year. The main reason that was put down to was the State intervention. The State is leading by example.

We have got to make sure that there are other avenues to prevent people from entering emergency accommodation and that where they enter emergency accommodation, they are there for the shortest time possible. In quarter 3 of this year, the most up-to-date figures, we saw a significant increase of 16.3% in the number of households prevented from entering emergency accommodation when compared with the same period last year. The Housing First programme has been the subject of international acclaim, as people will know, and it is working with 945 individuals right now who previously experienced long-term homelessness. They are currently in Housing First tenancies. Those people who live in precarious situations, who are at risk of homelessness in emergency accommodation or who are rough sleeping remain at the centre of our focus. They are the reason it is so important that the progress made to date, which I outlined earlier, should continue and that we build real momentum in that space.

The targets we have set ourselves under Housing for All were exceeded by over 5,000 last year. They will be exceeded again this year. In the context of the schemes we have in place, namely, the first home scheme, the vacancy and dereliction grants that bring older stock back into use for people to purchase, the CPO programme, the repair-and-lease scheme through local authorities and the refurbishment of commercial property, it is all happening. We need to build on that progress and expedite it into next year. We will do that. Things like the removal of the development levy have led to a significant increase in the number of new home starts. These are the type of measures that need to be taken when funding costs go up. One needs to be flexible in one's approach to dealing with housing. One cannot just come in here and promise to deliver 20,000 social and affordable homes - a quarter of which are apparently vacant stock - and state that one is going to purchase those properties by CPO and refurbish them and sell them back into the market in 12 months. It does not work that way. We have brought more than 8,500 voids back into use since I took over as Minister, and we will do around 2,600 this year. If one looks at vacant stock, one cannot just pluck a figure out of the air in an alternative budget and say that 4,000 of 20,000 properties will be vacant stock brought back into use in a 12-month period.

We have got to make sure that the measures we take are calibrated and do not have a detrimental effect in the context of reducing the number of properties available to people are in the private rental sector. That is the reason why we cannot support this legislation. Many Deputies know the effect this will have. It will lead to further flight from the market.

Deputy Ó Broin, who is shaking his head and who is entitled to do that should he wish, was the person who said in this House a number of months ago that everything should be on the table regarding the retention of landlords in the market in order to ensure that there are good rental properties available. No measures were brought forward whatsoever. The only measure that was brought forward was one to increase the tax on those property owners, which, like measure such as that before us, would lead to a further flight from the market. While the Bill is well meant - I am not disputing that - it would have a detrimental effect and make the situation worse. That is why I am not supporting it.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

There will be more children in emergency accommodation at Christmas because of the Minister. That is on him. Shame on the Minister.

Deputy Pa Daly

First, I want to praise those working in homeless services in Kerry County Council. Within the council's housing services, they have around 70 beds. Approximately 50 of these full, but they are just about managing because of their efforts to keep some beds in reserve. They are continually trying to source more beds. Much of their efforts are focused on keeping people out of emergency accommodation. They are engaging with clients to see what can be done, as once they are in, they know that it will be difficult to get them back out. Two or three notices to quit are coming in every day. We recently dealt with a man in his 70s who has a notice to quit for February. The landlord is insisting that he leave. Another visually impaired man had a notice to quit for 19 December next. The level of anxiety that he was dealing with was unbelievable. Luckily, however, he has managed to get a place in the past few days.

Crucially, I am informed that fewer affordable and social homes are to be completed in Kerry next year. This will add further pressure to the situation. The latest Housing for All progress report verifies what those in the housing services are saying. Of the units completed as a percentage of estimated requirement, Kerry stood at 20% of the 2023 requirement. Commencements in the year ending May 2023 saw a 1% decrease compared with the same period in 2022. With regard to the 2024 requirements, commencements were only at 25% of the estimated requirement. Only 13% of the required total for 2024 had received planning permission by last May, and, year on year, there was even a reduction of 40 in the number of units for which planning permission was received.

Clearly, the Government's own plan is not working. We need to give families space to breathe and to sort out the lag in the number of units through capital investment in housing. We need to stop these evictions and stop people becoming homeless.

Deputy Patricia Ryan

I might add that I am very disappointed that the Minister has left the Chamber again. I thank Deputy Ó Broin for all the work he does in respect of housing.

We find ourselves here asking the Minister of State and the Government to act urgently to prevent more families and children becoming homeless this Christmas. We are calling for the temporary reinstatement of the ban on no-fault evictions. Absolutely unacceptable figures released last week laid frighteningly bare the result of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments' failed housing policies. A total of 139 families are facing Christmas in a hub, hostel or bed and breakfast. Over 4,000 children are without a home to call their own. Worse again, for many this is not the first time.

What a shameful accolade it is to hold that the numbers of families and children homeless under this Government's remit are at the highest since records began. Incredibly, the Government seems to have broken this, as many more families live under the threat of eviction at landlords' behest, even though they paid their rent and have done nothing wrong. If this House fails to support the Bill, the purpose of which is to reinstate the temporary ban on no-fault evictions, I will not know what to say. Every day my office is contacted by desperate people and families who are facing into Christmas and another year of homelessness. They are being shuffled from pillar to post in assorted bed and breakfasts, hostels or hubs. That is 92 families and 147 children in the mid-east region alone. They have no home and no security. They are too far down on the social housing list, and so-called affordable homes are out of their reach. They are barely able to afford extortionate rents.

Hard-working people are falling through the cracks. These people deserve a break. Reintroducing the temporary ban on no-fault evictions is the right thing to do in stopping this relentless rise in the homelessness figures. In my constituency of Kildare South, I have seen too many families suffering through homelessness. Enough is enough. Some of the people coming to me are in their 70s. They are living in fear of having nowhere else to go. It is time for change, and change is coming.

Deputy Paul Donnelly

"Everyone Should Have a Home" is played every week outside these Houses by Martin Leahy. Every week, the cry of thousands of people is, "We should have a home, and why has this Government let us down?". Children ask their terrified parents why they are moving, and will Santa know where they are. They ask, "Why is the tree not up? It is nearly Christmas". Over the past few weeks, I have had families in my office absolutely terrified of the situation they find themselves in and about what their future holds. In the past few weeks, we managed to get two individuals, who are living in their cars, temporary safe accommodation due to the kindness of a local landlord. However, I know they are going to be back in the same situation in a few months' time. A family of four adults living in one room - two in college, one a nursing student and another in school. Another two families came to my office last week who previously got on well with their landlords. They went into mortgage distress and their houses were taken over by the same vulture group and managing agent who issued termination notices.

The facts are that people will be forced into homelessness by the Minister, who has again left the Chamber early and will not support this legislation for a ban on no-fault evictions. It is an absolute shame and a disgrace that we have thousands of children in homeless accommodation as we stand and speak here today. It is an absolute disgrace and a shame on this Government.

Deputy Martin Browne

Just over a year ago, when we were discussing similar matters, the homelessness figures were in the region of 11,000. They now stand at 13,179, including 3,911 children. Those figures are conservative. In June, July and August, 208 people presented to Tipperary County Council as homeless. At the beginning of September, 57 adults and 25 children were using the emergency accommodation available to the council.

That is far more than the official figures indicated. The unfortunate fact is that the housing list in County Tipperary now stands at 3,572. Demand is such that too many of the people currently in emergency accommodation will remain there throughout Christmas. Let us acknowledge the sad truth that homelessness is separating families. I am dealing with a man who has been going from couch to couch each night. Of course, this is not a suitable situation for his daughter, who is instead staying with her grandmother. Homelessness has separated a young girl from her father. In addition, rents in County Tipperary are more out of reach than ever. They rose by 10.4% in the past year. The amount of emergency accommodation available has fallen because the Department of children failed to engage locally on the use of Cashel town hostel. That emergency accommodation is now gone. People are in impossible situations, and the capacity to meet demand simply is not there. Only this morning, my office was told that the council’s homeless clinic for today was booked out. We need to introduce a ban on no-fault evictions this winter to ensure similar situations do not arise for more families who may, through no fault of their own, find themselves faced with a notice to quit while rents in County Tipperary continue to rise.

I will finish with these words from a constituent of mine who was recently served with a notice to quit. She is in her 40s and summarised the situation like this:

It is very unlikely that I will be able to purchase my own property and I will struggle to pay current rent prices in Tipperary if I have to move into another rental property, as well as the difficulty of getting landlords to take the HAP as a form of rent payment.

The pressure people are under is terrible; action is needed now. By opposing the Bill, the Government condemns more families to fear being made homeless over Christmas.

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

On Friday, I met a woman who is due to be evicted from her home with her three children just days before Christmas. As people can imagine, she was visibly upset. She was particularly upset because she felt she could not put up her Christmas tree. She said putting up her Christmas tree and putting the lights on it reminded her of the countdown to being evicted from that home with her three children. That decision is on the Minister of State. He is in the Department of housing. It is on him that this woman will be evicted. He could support this ban on evictions and make sure this woman and her family are not homeless over Christmas. There is nowhere to go in Galway city or county. Emergency accommodation there is at capacity. There is no room at the inn for this woman and her three children or the more than 150 children who are homeless across Galway city. I am dealing with a family with five children who have been in emergency accommodation for two years. Again, this is on the Minister of State. There is no room at the inn for the single mother with a two-year-old child who is couch surfing. This is supposed to be an exciting time for this young mother with her child. Instead, it is an extremely distressing time in the lead-up to Christmas. There is no room at the inn either for another young woman who is selling her belongings to pay for a hostel night by night. The Minister of State can make a decision tonight. It is on him. Some of these decisions have real-life impacts on the people we all represent, our neighbours and friends who are homeless as a result of failed Government policies and will be evicted because of the decision the Government is making tonight. Shame on the Government for that.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

The Labour Party will be supporting the Bill. I commend Deputy Ó Broin and his colleagues on bringing it forward. It is the most recent of many attempts at a sensible and compassionate approach to the growing crisis and impending cliff edge many families and renters will face starting next week. We are disappointed by the Government's decision to table an amendment virtually identical to that debated in the House last week. This amendment does little more than give cover to those Government and Independent TDs feeling the pressure in their constituencies but who will nonetheless support the Government in its indefensible action, namely, the decision to lift the eviction ban without reasonable contingencies. To borrow a phrase from the late Jim Kemmy, all this amendment does is allow certain TDs to play Mighty Mouse down in their constituencies and Mickey Mouse in Dublin. The discomfort of TDs in voting with the Government is nothing compared with the utter turmoil for families served with notices to quit who have nowhere to go. I urge the Government and the Minister of State to recognise the reasonable nature of this Bill and support the reinstatement of the eviction ban.

The long saga in the run-up to the lifting of the ban has been on of the truly depressing debates in this House. The allegations of parliamentary theatrics from the benches opposite show just how out of touch the Government is with the real anxiety being experienced by renters. Our motivation is people calling into our constituency offices telling stories of hardship and bringing Irish law into line with the norm in most European countries. We want workable solutions to make renting viable for those who want to rent or who are trapped in the private rental sector due to Government policy and locked out from homeownership. Most urgently, our motivation is keeping people out of homelessness and preventing our homeless services from collapsing. Why did the Government not use the breathing space previously available?

All of us, Government and Opposition, acknowledged that the temporary ban on no-fault evictions served two purposes when it was first introduced. The first was to give breathing space to families and renters in order to ensure that they would not face eviction over the winter. The second was to give the Government breathing space to put in place necessary measures to create an additional supply of homes to ensure that families who would be evicted once the ban was lifted would have somewhere to go and an alternative place to call home. The Government has not implemented the plans it proposed at that time. We all hear the same thing from families and individuals in our constituencies. I know the Minister of State hears it is as well, as do the agencies responsible for dealing with the homeless and local authorities - no emergency accommodation is available. This is a serious crisis. We hear about the distress and devastation. People have told devastating stories. Behind each story is an individual or family. I think of the young mother who is distraught at the prospect of moving her children out of school because she cannot find an affordable place to rent in her community once her eviction notice takes effect or the man in his 60s who asked us where he would get a mortgage because he is facing eviction. I also think of the elderly brothers who have been renting the same place for decades whose landlord now wishes to sell. They have nowhere to go. There is nowhere to rent that is affordable; there is nowhere to rent.

The Government has missed the mark with its approach to this ban. We heard from several small landlords in advance of this debate who wrote to us pleading that the ban be reinstated. Some had never written to a TD before but they felt so strongly about the Government's slowness in scaling up the tenant in situ scheme, the hasty manner in which it was announced and the lifting of the ban that they were moved to get in touch and ask that their objections to the Government's approach be raised.

I will repeat some of the stories we have heard. I know the Minister of State has received these stories too. A family of six - four children and two adults - contacted us. They have lived in the same rented home for 13 years but face imminent eviction. In the ten months since receiving their notice to quit, the parents have applied to hundreds of houses and have gone to dozens of viewings. They are due to leave on 1 April but have no home to go to.

Many of the measures we suggested when we were arguing about this matter last year - we are arguing again today - and that could have been implemented have, unfortunately, fallen on deaf ears. The initial motivation behind the Government's opposition to the eviction ban was that it was unconstitutional. Then, the Taoiseach spoke about those who owned properties and were unable to move into their own properties because of the nature of the eviction ban. As we and other Deputies across this House have constantly said, we do not accept Irish exceptionalism when it comes to the property or rental markets. Why must Ireland stand alone on tenants' rights? Why must our market be different from the mainstream European market? Why can renters here not expect fixity of tenure, fair rents and all those desires and campaigning objectives that have been here for hundreds of years when it is taken absolutely for granted across Europe?

We support this Bill. It is not radical or unusual and would not be taken to be a radical step in any other European country. It is mainstream European thought regarding renters' rights. On that basis, we are happy to support this Bill.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

The Social Democrats will be supporting the Bill. I thank Deputy Ó Broin for bringing it forward.

If anything, and I mean this in a constructive fashion, we think the Bill is too weak. As the Deputies in Sinn Féin have said, this is a modest proposal. We would like to see the situation in place in most European countries, and there is nothing radical about this at all. People who pay their rent do not get evicted. That is what happens is most European countries. I do not know how many times I need to say this for the Government to hear it, but guess what? That is in European countries with larger rental sectors than we have, more investment in the rental sectors and more landlords. The argument from the Government is that landlords will flee and you cannot get investment if you have the normal protections in place for renters that exist in every other European country. That just does not hold up. The Government and the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, often say the temporary ban on no-fault evictions was not working. That also does not hold up. That is what the Taoiseach and the Minister for housing have told us on many occasions. However, look at the homeless numbers when the temporary ban was in place, and especially the impact on children growing up without a home. Last December, following the introduction of the temporary no-fault eviction ban, the number of children in emergency homeless accommodation dropped. That was after 11 months of consecutive increases. For three consecutive months during the eviction ban, the number of children living in emergency homeless accommodation went down, and yet the Taoiseach and others try to claim the eviction ban was not working. Is that not working? More children had a home, and fewer children over the Christmas period were in emergency accommodation. That is surely evidence of it working. Since the eviction ban was lifted we have had 11 straight months of increases. Every single month child homelessness has increased to record levels never seen before in this country. There are 4,000 children heading into Christmas in emergency homeless accommodation. That alone is surely evidence of the eviction ban working.

It has been said that no-fault evictions are the European norm, and that point has been well made. However, the Minister said this evening that the reason the moratorium came in last year was because there was a constraint in emergency accommodation, and that problem is no longer there. He said that emergency homeless accommodation is available for anyone who needs it. I do not know what reality the Minister for housing, Deputy O'Brien, is living in if he thinks that is the situation. All of us in this Chamber hear from people who have become homeless the whole time, and who have huge difficulties accessing emergency accommodation. Someone contacted me, for example, who was ringing the number to access emergency homeless accommodation and being asked if they had a car, and if they could stay in the car instead. That is the response to the people in need of emergency accommodation, from officials managing it; "What about your car?" This woman did not have a car, but was being told this by the people effectively working on behalf of the Minister, the Government and the State, when she was looking for emergency accommodation.

More and more people are finding it difficult to access emergency accommodation. Some local authorities have been using local connection rules to refuse people access to emergency accommodation. That is not something that exists on a statutory basis. They tell people they are not originally from Dublin, so they have to go somewhere else in the country. They tell them they are not originally from Limerick, so they should go back to where they came from. There are good reasons why people will often present to emergency homeless accommodation outside of the place they had their last private rented accommodation. Those reasons include people fleeing domestic violence or difficult family break-ups. They could be fleeing a drug debt or intimidation. We have also had situations where, let us say, people originally from Dublin rented in Wexford, the tenancy broke down, they became homeless and they came back to Dublin to try to access emergency accommodation. They are told that because the last place they are on record as living is Wexford they have to present to Wexford emergency accommodation. That statement from the Minister that there is ample emergency accommodation now available for anyone who needs it simply does not match the reality for people on the ground.

It is a pity that every time we have these discussions on housing, the first thing the Minister does, once he has concluded his remarks, is leave so he can hear as little as possible about the reality on the ground. If he listened to people in the Opposition about this he might learn some of the realities, which would be helpful in his role. I raise one example of a person and family who would benefit if this Bill were supported by the Government. A constituent contacted me recently who has been living in a one bedroom apartment with four children for almost ten years. The accommodation is so cramped she has to share the bed with some of her children because there is no space. Her landlord is continuously threatening to raise the rent. She has been constantly searching for alternative accommodation but cannot find anything in the price range for HAP, and she cannot even get viewings. The family will be evicted from its accommodation in February. They are extremely worried they will not be able to get any space in emergency accommodation on the northside of Dublin and will have to commute long distances for the children to attend school. Her children are worried about missing out on participating in the local sports clubs and teams and being disconnected from their friends in the area. This is how children are really affected. This is the reality for this family, and is what they are thinking about and worrying about as they approach Christmas.

The Government is effectively gaslighting people on housing and telling them their housing plan is working. If this is what a housing plan that is working looks like, I would not want to know what a housing plan looks like that does not work. Not only is the Government refusing to reinstate the no-fault eviction ban, which was proven to work, it is not proposing any new measures to tackle homelessness and child homelessness. The no-fault eviction ban would temporarily bring us into line with other European countries, and that is all it would do. Last year, four local authorities sold off more social homes than they built. These local authorities decreased their social housing stock in the middle of a homeless crisis. In the budget this year, the Minister for Finance announced measures to further incentivise and support the sale of social housing by local authorities. Next year, we face the prospect of probably more than four local authorities selling off more social homes than they build. At the same time hundreds of millions of euro allocated by this Government to build social housing has been left unspent. A significant amount of it has been returned to the Exchequer. This year alone, €220 million allocated for local authority social housing has been allocated elsewhere, while €70 million allocated for affordable housing is also being allocated elsewhere. The housing situation has never been so dire. We have record homeless levels and record rents. We have record numbers of people in their twenties and thirties stuck in their childhood bedrooms. The human cost of this and the impact on well-being, mental health and relationships and increasing stress and anxiety is huge.

I conclude by raising one issue that is deeply worrying, which is the Government's response. We keep asking what it is going to do about these record levels of homelessness and it says nothing new We then hear it is thinking about doing something but it is the wrong thing altogether. From the review the Government is doing of the homeless Act, the criteria around it and the engagement so far, it appears its answer to record levels of people in emergency homeless accommodation is to reduce the eligibility criteria for people accessing it. We see how that is playing out for people seeking international protection, but we now see it being considered for standard emergency homeless accommodation. If the Government goes ahead with this it will mean more people sleeping on the streets. If you try to put on a statutory basis the local connection rule a number of local authorities are operating, it will mean more vulnerable people sleeping on the streets and not getting shelter. It will mean more homeless deaths. There is no way that will be avoided. It will put huge strain on the services trying to support and get people off the streets into emergency homeless accommodation. If you put that local connection rule on a statutory basis, you are reducing the eligibility criteria to access homeless accommodation. Instead of doing that, the Government needs to be getting solutions to homelessness, to get more people off the streets, more people out of emergency homeless accommodation, and not trying to reduce the eligibility criteria that will push more people onto the streets and into rough sleeping.

That is absolutely the wrong approach. I call on the Minister of State to commit in his concluding remarks that the Government will not go down that route.

Deputy Seán Canney

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I begin by informing the House that I am a landlord and have an interest in this subject.

The problem facing us at the moment is the supply of houses. The local authorities have been commissioned to deliver social housing and we now see them being commissioned to deliver affordable houses and other types of homes. That will help people. I acknowledge Galway County Council's efforts in recent years to build social housing estates. I welcome that social housing is again being built as part of Government policy rather than leaving it to the private sector. The houses being built are of fantastic quality and a credit to everybody involved.

The real issue, which is homelessness and people without places to stay, comes down to one particular factor, namely, the supply of houses. How can the Government help with supply? The one area in which we are totally dysfunctional is that of private housing supply. Some private accommodation is being built but most of it is in the form of apartment blocks built by investment companies as opposed to housing built by developers to sell to individuals. It is striking that only two private housing estates are being built in Galway county at the moment. That is an indictment of where we are at and of the Government's policies. If we do not increase that supply very rapidly, we will be in worse trouble.

I acknowledge the Croí Cónaithe scheme, which we in the Regional Group looked to have enhanced. It was enhanced and it is now functioning. However, the local authorities need more resources to ensure all the processes are done more speedily to ensure the work is completed and people are occupying houses more quickly. The emergency situation we are facing needs to be dealt with by emergency measures by the local authorities, supported by the Government.

Another area where we have problems is in planning. There are a lot of planning refusals for one reason or another. We also have problems with the zoning of lands. There is an incredible situation where forward planners will say it is more important to have a footpath to connect housing to the town centre than it is to have sewerage facilities. I have seen that in local plans, with lands not being prioritised on the basis that there is no footpath to link them to the town. We can build footpaths and all of that. We need a commonsense approach.

Given the emergency we are facing and the fact the private sector is dysfunctional in its delivery of houses, will the Government set up an emergency task force to see what are the blockages? How do we get developers to start building houses on land they own rather than the Government imposing a land tax on zoned land on which housing is not being built? We need to wake up to the fact this is an emergency and that if we do not do something now, we will find ourselves in a worse state. Anger is beginning to build up in regard to all of this. People are comparing how refugees and asylum seekers are being treated with how our own people in this country are being treated. That is under the surface and it is beginning to bubble up. There is only one solution to all of this, which is to provide a policy for private sector development and instruments by which affordable houses can be built at the speed at which they are required over the next number of years. I fail to see that being done. Instead, we see strategies, plans and agencies being set up. The important thing is to see the houses being built. We need to cut out a lot of the red tape and get on with it.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

I agree with Deputy O'Callaghan's point that the Minister for housing is never here for this Stage of housing debates. If the Minister listened more to the knowledge and experience that exists on the Opposition benches, he might be able to deliver his role in a better fashion.

There are approximately 160,000 empty homes in the State. In a housing crisis, to have 160,000 empty homes is an absolutely horrendous situation. It does not make sense at all that the two issues would sit side by side; 160,000 empty homes and a housing crisis. One of the easiest ways to solve this crisis is to try to get those homes back into use. The Minister for housing confirmed to me in his reply to a parliamentary question today that a mere €4.3 million has been spent on getting vacant properties back into use through the grant that was launched in July 2022. A total of €4.3 million has been spent by the Department for that purpose. That works out at about €250,000 a month being spent by the Government on getting empty homes back into use, which is five or six houses a month. Over this whole period, approximately 60 homes were refurbished under the grant. There are now only 166,940 homes empty as a result of all the hard work the Government has done on this issue. At the rate of progress it is making in getting those homes refurbished and back into use, it will only take 3,300 years for the Government to get to the last house. That is a damning indictment of its slow rate of delivery.

It is a characteristic that is written right across every element of the Government's delivery of capital projects. It is unable to deliver them. This is incompetence that is costing society extremely dear. Just this year, when the Government decided to change the rules around the refurbishment grant to make it easier to access, we found out there were 3,900 applicants for the grant so far this year. How many got to draw down that funding? A total of 22 applicants have been able to do so this year. Abysmal does not even start to describe the Government's approach to getting empty homes back into use over that period. In the first iteration of the regulations the Government created, a person had to be homeless and have an empty house that was in need of refurbishment to be eligible for the grant. The Government is making it so difficult to draw down funds in a practical way and get the scheme up and running that it is currently worse than useless. At the same time, there are 3,500 empty local authority homes. They should be even easier to get back into use but it is taking, on average, eight months to do so, compared with an average of three weeks for a similar home in the private rental sector. Again, this underlines the complete dearth of competence and ability that exists in the Government in terms of tackling this issue.

We in Aontú welcome this Bill. Having no-fault evictions during the winter period is wrong. The previous time such a Bill was up for debate in this Chamber was last March. We injected a small bit of compassion into that debate by tabling an amendment that sought a compromise between the positions of the Government and the Opposition by providing specific protections to stop no-fault evictions for people who have a disability, persons suffering from cancer or another severe illness, pregnant women and people over the age of 65. The Green Party TDs voted against that protection from eviction for those most vulnerable people. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael also voted against it. They showed a complete lack of compassion on the issue.

It is incredible that they cannot deliver new homes, yet they will not protect people in the rental sector who are desperately seeking to be able to pay very high rents or housing that is often of significantly substandard quality. Every week, dozens of people come to my constituency office in fear of being evicted, with no alternative place to go. In that scenario, where there is a no-fault eviction, the Government should do the right thing and support the Bill.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

I thank Deputy Ó Broin and Sinn Féin for bringing forward the Bill and giving us a chance to talk about renters and housing. Renters in many parts of Kerry are having severe difficulty finding a house to rent. The houses that are available may be too expensive. Landlords are sceptical of the HAP system and unwilling to accept the payment. There are houses to be found but many landlords have left the market because they can only get €700 or €800 a month in rent for the property and they would pay half of that in tax. Another problem is that the RTB will ensure landlords who need the house back will not be able to get it back.

The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, who is present, is aware that landlords or house owners who rent a house to a Ukrainian family get €800 tax free from the Government. We are now aware these people are not going to be kept in hotels endlessly, so where are they going to finish up? Invariably, they will be looking for landlords to rent houses to them and they will have an advantage. I am asking the Minister of State to ensure our people get that same tax relief. Landlords who rent a house to a local person should be able to get up to €800 tax free, just like those who rent to Ukrainians. I want the same deal for local people. I am making no bones about it. Our people are entitled to the same terms and conditions as other people, whatever part of the world they come from.

There is still very little progress on voids being brought back into existence in Kerry, as I told the Minister of State a few days ago. The tenant purchase scheme was a great scheme. Local authority houses built since 2015 cannot be purchased by the tenant. I am asking the Government to change that. It was a great scheme. People who were allocated a house by the local authority kept it well because it was in their mind to purchase the house when they got on their feet. That was a great scheme but it is being ended now. There are a lot of voluntary housing bodies building houses but the tenants will never be able to purchase those houses. Tenants do not have the same pride when they know they will never be able to purchase the house.

An important point is that we are housing people from all over the world in Killarney but there is no homeless centre in the town. If a person in Killarney becomes homeless, the nearest homeless centre for that person is in Tralee. That takes people away from local schools, family and everything else. It is too far away. I need the Government to address that important issue. We always used to have a facility in Killarney but have not had one for the past 12 months.

On planning, there is no possibility of getting planning in most of Kerry unless you are the son or daughter of a farmer. While I welcome that those people can get planning, there are other local people who should be getting planning as well. They should have the basic right to build a house and put a roof over their heads.

Deputy Carol Nolan

Before I begin, I wish to declare that I am a property owner. Tá áthas orm deis a bheith agam labhairt ar an mBille tábhachtach seo. When I looked back to Deputy Ó Broin's contribution on First Stage of the Bill a few weeks ago, I was struck by the reference to data that showed that, in 2011, the total number of children classified as homeless was 641. Shockingly, that figure now stands at 3,000. As the Deputy pointed out, there has been a horrifying 429% increase in the number of children presenting as homeless, which is, of course, a gross underestimate as not all homeless children are captured in the official data. Parents come into my constituency offices in Offaly and Laois full of anxiety about this matter. It is heartbreaking and frustrating to witness it day after day. It is the single biggest issue with which we, as TDs, deal in our constituency offices. This clearly highlights that something has gone catastrophically wrong in the past decade.

I am not sure, however, whether mitigating measures such as that proposed in the Bill will harm or help the recovery from this position of social wreckage. Eviction bans or suspensions are temporary measures at best. I am deeply concerned and fearful that the constant or routine introduction of these types of measures will create further levels of uncertainty within the housing sector, eventually leading to an even greater exodus of property owners from the market. There is also a key constitutional issue at stake here, namely, the right of private property owners to exercise their rights without undue interference from the State. We must support small-scale property owners to stay in the sector. It is crucial they stay in the sector in order that there is a rental market. We must not force them out, however good the intentions. I have no doubt the Bill is well intentioned but the reality and outcomes may not be what we expect. They could actually make things worse for tenants, and no one wants to see that happening.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae

I thank the Deputies who brought forward the Bill, but I will have a few more things to say about that in a moment. I wish to declare an interest in this subject. For many decades, I have been providing accommodation for all sectors of society. According to the Central Statistics Office, the average house price was €315,000 in May 2023, 14.8% higher than in 2020 and 125.8% higher than in 2013. That is a staggering increase in the cost of housing. The biggest problem in this whole issue is the availability of housing.

One thing I will keep talking about until it stops is that I am unable to understand why people who are elected to positions on county councils or in the Dáil use their influence, power and knowledge of the planning process to object to housing. For example, people from the party proposing the Bill have objected not to the building of ten or 20 homes but to the building of thousands of social and affordable homes. It is not just members of Sinn Féin who object to houses. Some people in other parties or none are serial objectors. I am not able to understand it. If you want houses, you want houses. I guarantee that hell will freeze over before you will see Danny Healy-Rae or Michael Healy-Rae objecting to houses being built in Kerry. We would give the skin off our backs to see people get planning. We know that to put people into houses, they have to be granted planning. It is getting more costly to apply for planning and more difficult to get it as a result of several issues, one of which is the objectors.

I want to talk about people leaving the rental market. This has been happening continuously in recent years. To be honest, an awful lot of the utterances inside here are a cause of people being fearful.

People seem to forget that the people who provide accommodation pay 56% of that rent to the Government and the State. More than half of it goes in tax. I never hear the individuals who are shouting here all the time, the serial objectors who are objecting to houses being built in their constituencies, saying anything about the 50% tax. If the Government reduced the tax, right away the rents could be reduced. I am sure that could be organised but the Government does not seem to be willing to do so. At the end of the day, we need supply and one of the most important things we need is social and affordable houses to be built to make it affordable for young couples and young families to be able to rent properties.

We also need to do something that was always there before, single rural cottages being built on family farms where a house would be built for a family and it would be there for future generations. That was a great scheme. It is next to impossible to get a single rural cottage built now and it is not happening. I want to see all local authorities building up and ensuring we have no such thing. I do not like the word "void". There is no such thing as a void. A house is empty if nobody is living in it and it is an empty house. We want to see those houses being brought back into use as they would if they were in the private market.

Deputy Joan Collins

It is now eight months since the Government lifted the eviction ban and took away the only thing keeping thousands of people from facing eviction. It was a political decision to allow a level of homelessness in this country that has not been seen in modern times. Time will tell the full damage of lifting the no-fault eviction ban, but we know that since the Government took away the ban, in excess of 15,000 people have been given notices to quit. That is a greater number than what was seen in the Famine. That is a quote from an article I read.

People facing eviction have nowhere else to go. It is impossible to find somewhere to rent. It is near impossible for many to afford the current price of rent. Emergency homeless accommodation is overstretched and underfunded. It is the norm across the developed world to have a permanent ban on no-fault eviction as the bedrock of a stable rental market. This Government does not think Irish renters deserve that protection even in the middle of a generational housing crisis. Its policies are failing.

Since the Government implemented Housing for All, homelessness has increased by 51%, with child homelessness rising by 67%. According to the RTB, 30,000 households have been evicted in the past three years. That means almost one in ten renting households has been affected under this Government. Those lucky enough to be able to find a new place face extortionate and rising rents. The ESRI has found that almost 300,000, or 54%, of renting households were in receipt of some kind of State support to help with the cost of housing in 2020. The average rent in Dublin is €2,102 a month. The cost of housing is simply becoming further out of the reach of ordinary people.

The Government has been lauding the €500 tax credit as putting a month's rent back into people's pockets. If you think a month's rent for the average person is €500, you have lost your mind. You just have no clue what is going on. This is how we end up not just with record homelessness but homelessness that sets a new record almost every month. These figures do not even cover people sleeping rough, sleeping in cars, sleeping on couches, families split or in emergency accommodation and in the houses of friends and family.

According to research by Dr. Rory Hearne, nearly 75,000 people are in hidden homelessness. That is tens of thousands with no place to call home. The Government is standing over the immiseration of people and yet refusing to accept that its policies are failing and to implement the change we need. This is a crisis that hits the worst-off the hardest. The Government has failed to protect the most vulnerable. Department of housing figures show that single-parent families make up between 52% and 54% of those in homeless accommodation. This situation is getting worse. Of the 207 families who have entered homeless accommodation since April, 70% are single-parent families. Single-parent families are more likely to face poverty and energy deprivation and are now increasingly more likely to face homelessness. This is a national disgrace and yet the Government is happy to allow things to get worse for single-parent families with more and more facing or in homelessness.

It was in this situation that the Government decided to lift the no-fault eviction ban. It could not justify it then and it cannot justify it now. It has repeated the line that the ban did not work because homelessness figures kept rising. Obviously, homelessness figures will continue to rise because the Government is not building enough houses. The Department of housing has a €1 billion underspend. This ban is about stemming the evictions to take pressure off our emergency accommodation and keep as many people in their homes as we can.

Renters need more. We will not end this housing crisis without real intervention from the State with mass public house construction and a new set of rights for renters. Security of tenure and tenants' rights need to be improved. We need an RTB that can properly enforce tenants' rights and regularly inspect properties. We need controls on rents to push down extortionate prices. I support the Bill and I thank Deputy Ó Broin for bringing it to the floor of the House. We need a no-fault eviction ban, but it needs to be permanent and enshrined as the bedrock of tenants' rights and security of tenure in the rental market.

A young woman contacted me today. She has two boys aged ten and 12. She has been on the housing list for nearly ten years. In area K she is number 445 on the list, in area L she is 356, and in area M she is 410. She is in overcrowded accommodation and getting desperate. Because of the overcrowding, tensions are building. This is what people are living through. The Minister of State and his colleagues should be ashamed of themselves to allow this to continue.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for introducing this Bill, which I will be supporting. There seems to be confusion on whether the Government is tabling an amendment or just opposing it, full stop. I have no idea how it could oppose the Bill. It is very limited; it is limited in time and it is limited in nature. It is to make provision to defer the termination dates of certain tenancies that fall or would fall during the period beginning on the day after the passing of the Act and ending on 31 March. Then there is a further phased basis. It is temporary, as I said, and it is very restricted. It is the least we could do as a tiny part to tackle the housing crisis.

Since 2016, I have stood here week after week highlighting the housing crisis in Galway. Very often the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is in here because the senior Minister has left. I understand more than anyone that Ministers are extremely busy. However, having 4,000 homeless children is a serious crisis where the Minister should stay in the Chamber and acknowledge what is happening as a direct consequences of Government policy. On the floor of the Dáil, I have praised the Minister of State for his work on his area of heritage and the environment. However, on housing, no praise whatsoever is due. It is truly shocking.

Between 23 and 29 October - it has got worse since - 13,179 people were accessing homeless accommodation. At that stage, 3,991 were children and I gather that has risen to more than 4,000. As has been said repeatedly, that does not capture those in different categories who are not on the official list. Galway city distinguishes itself by having a housing crisis that is on a parallel with Dublin if not worse. The average increase in rent for new tenancies is 11.6%. In Galway city it is 12.7% and ever higher.

In 2022, Galway city failed to meet its targets. Of its target of 305 new-build social homes, it reached 150. I am in no way critical of staff. I see staff in local authorities being moved all the time. They are dealing with homeless people and people who are under pressure all of the time every day. I have the greatest respect for staff. However, I would reserve my anger and my frustration for city managers who over the years have failed to deal with a housing crisis. When I was a councillor, not a single house was built since 2009 under successive governments. As councillors, we begged various Ministers, including Labour Party Ministers, to come to Galway as we told them the housing crisis was getting worse. This was well before Russia invaded Ukraine and well before the arrival of Covid. We had a housing crisis deliberately caused by Government policy.

We were told in no uncertain terms in 2014 that the only game in town was HAP. We now know that in Galway we have 2,400 people on HAP.

Actually, the task force numbers are higher again. There is the same number of people on HAP in Galway as there is social housing. That does not even include long-term leasing. There is public land in Galway. A task force was set up. I heard Deputy Canney asking for a task force, but a task force was set up in 2019 because of the housing crisis. It has failed to deliver a final report on analysis, suggestions and recommendations. That was set up, but it has just become another layer of bureaucracy.

I keep pointing out to the Minister of State that we do not have enough public land. The public land we do have is not subject to a master plan, so each group is doing its own thing. I have repeatedly pointed out what the board of Galway Harbour is doing with public land. The Land Development Agency is set to take ownership of 6 acres of port lands for housing. The Minister of State has had plenty of time to check whether that will be for public housing. Will that be 100% public housing or is it, as we were told in the headlines, for premium housing only? At what price will this public land go over to the Land Development Agency? Surely it should be at a nominal price - it is going from one public authority to another - if we are seriously interested in tackling the housing crisis in Galway.

I am paid - it is a privilege to be here - and I will keep using my voice, although I despair at saying practically the same thing every year. We are full of suggestions. We are full of solutions. I am tired of the zig-zag across the floor of the House and being told we have no solutions. I have many solutions to the housing crisis, but I am tired of a dysfunctional market being propped up by successive Governments, including the Minister of State's own.

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

The last eviction ban did not work because it was not long enough. It was a time-buying exercise by the Government and was subsequently wasted because no new measures were taken with respect to scaling up either social housing or emergency accommodation in real time.

Last month, Clare County Council saw 52 new and 428 repeat presentations to their homeless action team. That is an increase of 20 new and 213 repeat presentations since November of last year. Not having an eviction ban in place this year has resulted in the number of repeat presentations to the Clare homeless action team more than doubling. At the time of the ban last year and almost every week since, I have called for five specific actions from this Government, and the Minister of State will be very familiar with them. Today, however, I will highlight that in addition to supporting this Bill, I support a full-scale ban on no-fault evictions.

As the Minister of State knows, nine out of ten evictions in Ireland are landlord-led and seven out of ten are no-fault evictions. Clare County Council has advised that it is currently working with 80 households with a notice to quit. If this ban keeps a roof over one of those families' heads, this Bill is worth supporting by one and all.

It is disappointing that the Minister has said that he will not be supporting this Bill. This Bill is the least-worst option. It is two days before the House rises for Christmas. My preference will always be for no-fault evictions to be outlawed in our State. As I said, I support this Bill. However, I note that another short-term eviction ban will result in history repeating itself, a deluge of notices to quit in the summer, and nowhere for people to go. I support the Bill, as I said, but I wish it went a little further.

I also want to briefly mention that I note the Minister of State's comments on funding for emergency accommodation. However, in the last 12 months, I have been hearing that much more than money is at issue in relation to scaling up. It is the case that the Minister has not availed of the emergency powers or exemptions required in order to effectively respond to reality. I raised this matter previously and requested that those measures be utilised by the Minister.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Verona Murphy)

I thank the Deputy.

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

Currently, there is a waiting list to access emergency accommodation and hundreds are staying with family. They are ultimately suffering in silence, because they are gagged by the reality of trying to survive with a family in Ireland in 2023.

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Malcolm Noonan)

I will raise a couple of points before I read the closing statement. I want to thank Deputies for the points they have raised. There is nothing additional to say that is not in the closing comments. I will refer to some points that have been raised by Deputy Cian O'Callaghan. In Housing for All, there are measures to enhance family support, prevention and early intervention services for children and families. This takes a multi-agency and collaborative approach to enhance tenancy sustainment supports to families who are experiencing long-term homelessness and maintain homes. That is in collaboration with the Department of children and Tusla.

Our Department is leading the development of a pilot scheme for housing-led support accommodation for families with complex needs in Galway city and county. That was established in June this year. The steering group comprises both local authorities, the HSE and Tusla. That pilot is to commence in the first quarter of 2024.

A point was raised in relation to local connection. We are in the process of considering new regulations regarding local connection criteria to manage homeless accommodation and ensure exit pathways for all service users. Again, we are cognisant of the need to mitigate the risk of rough sleeping. A number of similar points were raised in terms of unintended consequences of this particular Bill, such as landlords exiting the market. Other points were raised that made comparisons with other European countries. They are all pretty much addressed in the closing speech.

I wish to confirm that the Government will be opposing the Bill tabled by Sinn Féin for debate this evening. The Government decided on 7 March this year that the winter eviction ban would end as planned on 31 March with notices of termination taking effect on a phased basis until 18 June, and that a focus on additional new supply is the best way forward. It was brought in as a short-term emergency measure but did not have the desired impact of reducing homelessness numbers.

The Government decided in March to adhere to the Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Act 2022, passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas less than five months earlier in October 2022, which provided for the winter eviction ban and its conclusion by 18 June. The decisions to provide for and subsequently not to extend or replicate the ban were not taken lightly by the Government. We remain of the view that adhering to the original legal provisions and allowing the winter eviction ban to lift in an orderly manner was the correct decision. If we were to do as Sinn Féin asks in this Bill and introduce this eviction ban we would only serve to shrink the number of homes available to rent. That is of no help to renters in short, medium or long term.

Under Housing for All, the Government is committed to increasing supply and protecting renters while trying to keep small landlords in the system. Any merit in introducing an eviction ban in the short term would be countered in the medium to longer term by a significantly reduced housing supply for rent. The level of rents charged would rise in the context of a constrained supply of new rental accommodation. Landlords would continue to exit the market and the signal would be to avoid any further investment in the sector.

Research by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland indicates a net loss of 13,500 existing rental units last year alone. We know there are people who are facing significant housing challenges, including renters. At the crux of everything this Government is doing is the need to increase the supply of housing. An eviction ban would not do that. We need to retain small landlords in the sector while increasing housing stock for purchase and rent by private renters, cost renters and social renters, as well as supporting homeownership. We need to continue to scale up student-specific accommodation, cost-rental accommodation and social housing. We need to transfer a proportion of short-term lets to longer term rentals.

The updated Housing for All action plan includes action 2.1, which is to review the operation of the private rental sector and report on policy considerations. The review takes into account the significant regulatory changes over the past several years and the Government will consider and act on its recommendations. The review will draw conclusions on how our rental market could provide an efficient, viable, affordable, safe and secure framework for both landlords and tenants. This review will be finalised as early as possible. It will be essential in properly planning future policy for the residential rented sector, including implementing measures to support both landlords and tenants.

I wish to assure Deputies that the Government understands the challenges faced by people in securing accommodation. The annual update of the Housing for All action plan identifies 30 priority actions to activate and accelerate the delivery of housing. A major emphasis for the remainder of the year and 2024 will be on measures to improve the viability of housing construction, including through the adoption of modern methods of construction, MMC, and enhancing construction sector capacity. The year ahead will also see substantial progress being made in reforming the planning system. The action plan, which was updated on 14 November, will ensure that the focus remains on the fast and effective delivery of the schemes and initiatives launched under Housing for All. This, together with the record €5.1 billion in capital investment allocated to housing delivery in budget 2024, reaffirms this Government’s commitment to sustaining the progress made to date.

Housing for All is beginning to work. Housing for All is successfully supporting a significantly increased supply of new homes, with almost 30,000 new homes built in 2022, an increase of 45% on 2021 and 5,250 homes or 21% higher than the Housing for All target of 24,600.

The data on the number of residential construction starts shows that 26,547 homes were commenced in the first ten months of 2023. This is a 16.6% increase on the same period last year. More than 22,400 homes were built to the end of September 2023, with the Housing for All targets of 29,000 and 33,450 in 2023 and 2024, respectively, expected to be met or exceeded.

In 2022, over 10,000 new social homes were delivered by local authorities and AHBs. Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy. As detailed in Housing for All, the Government has introduced a number of measures to support households and individuals wishing to purchase and rent a new home. These measures are primarily aimed at supporting affordability-constrained households, first-time buyers and fresh start scheme applicants to buy a home or to rent a secure cost-rental home. At the end of the third quarter of 2023, over 3,000 affordable homes had been delivered, having been supported by the affordable housing fund, the cost-rental equity loan, Project Tosaigh and the first home scheme. Over 2,500 first home shared equity scheme approvals issued in the first 15 months since its launch in July 2022. This momentum will continue as the pipeline of affordable housing delivery is developed and expanded by our delivery partners, including local authorities, AHBs, the LDA and the first home scheme. This includes over 800 cost-rental homes in the State delivered to date by AHBs, local authorities and the LDA. In recognition of the ever-demanding higher global construction costs and the higher interest rate environment, this Government has actively introduced measures over the last 12 months to support and enhance the delivery of cost-rental housing.

I wish to assure renters and Deputies that the Government is helping renters. When a tenant receives a valid notice of termination because their landlord intends to sell a home, and they are in receipt of HAP or RAS and at risk of homelessness, their local authority is supported by the Department under the tenant in situ scheme to purchase the home for continued letting to the sitting tenant. Significant progress has been made on social housing tenant in situ acquisitions, with over 1,300 homes purchased by local authorities and AHBs and a further 1,000 properties at "sale agreed" stage. The Government has recently agreed to extend the programme of tenant in situ social housing acquisitions into 2024. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has also informed the Government of plans to give a number of new opportunities to tenants who wish to become homeowners. The plan is to give them the opportunity to buy their homes by requiring a landlord selling a property to first offer it to the tenant. Priority legal drafting of the residential tenancies right to purchase Bill is under way with the aim of publication as soon as possible. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Bill is expected to conclude before the Christmas recess.

It is important to remember that a valid notice of termination must be served in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2022. Tenants in receipt of a notice of termination are encouraged to avail of Government supports, including the tenant in situ scheme and the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme. Budget 2024 increases the rent tax credit from €500 to €750 per renter. Potentially, €1,500 would be available to a couple renting their home, which is very close to the national standardised average for a new tenancy of €1,574 in quarter 2 of 2023. The Government relies on the private rental sector to provide much-needed housing generally, as well as housing through which social housing needs can be met.

We must recognise that any actions that directly or inadvertently undermine the economic viability of rental accommodation provision could negatively impact on existing and future supply of rented accommodation and on the wider economy, and damage the future capacity and attractiveness for both landlords and tenants. The wider issue of Ireland’s international cost competitiveness and attractiveness for foreign direct investment is also important and a sound housing system is crucial. The Government recognises that there is a need to urgently and substantially scale up housing delivery, including emergency accommodation, affordable housing, cost-rental accommodation and social housing, including via acquisitions. This will take some pressure off the rental market. The Government will be opposing the Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) (No. 2) Bill 2023 this evening.

Deputy Pauline Tully

The vast majority of constituents who come through my office door do so for help or advice on housing. Increasingly, families and individuals are facing eviction. One man in his 40s who recently lost both his mother and his brother, and whose only remaining family is his son, is being evicted. He is on the housing list but there are not enough one- or two-bedroom houses to accommodate him. He is on one wage and there is no possibility of him being able to rent in the private sector. His son currently stays with him at weekends. If he cannot source alternative accommodation, that will no longer be an option.

A young mother with two children who is facing eviction has had to move back in with her mother and is now sleeping on the sitting room floor with her two children. She works a few days a week. She receives the working family payment and that puts her over the threshold for social housing. She is now contemplating giving up her few days of work even though she does not want to. She is not alone in that choice. A great number of families are choosing to give up work, not to take on extra hours, or to give up a payment to which they are entitled in order that they will actually qualify for the social housing list because they cannot afford to rent in the private sector without some sort of housing support. Even with those housing supports, it is very difficult.

In my constituency, emergency accommodation consists of bed and breakfast accommodation. In counties Cavan and Monaghan, someone facing homelessness will be put up in bed and breakfast accommodation, which is not appropriate in the long term and is certainly not appropriate for children. I commend the staff in the housing sections of both councils because they do everything in their power to prevent people becoming homeless but there is only so much they can do when there is a severe shortage of houses.

It is very disappointing that the Government is opposing this Bill. It is soul destroying for those who are homeless and for those facing eviction. I very much think it is past time that the Government stepped up and addressed what is a very serious housing crisis. A no-fault eviction ban would allow some time for housing to become available. It will not restrict the number of houses available; it will do the opposite if it is used appropriately.

Deputy Réada Cronin

For most of us, this is a time of year when we are always thinking about children. It is unconscionable that 4,000 children who are facing into Christmas and waiting for Santy to arrive are in homeless emergency accommodation. The real political and social emergency in this Chamber the fact that we need emergency accommodation for our children. These children are wondering if Santy will be able to find them. Their parents are giving them reasons - anything from GPS, to magic, and to star maps - to reassure them that he will arrive, and he will.

We had a close call in north Kildare. I am relieved to be able to say that my office intervened. Kildare County Council was able to move very quickly and is now buying the house under the tenant in situ scheme. This is life-changing for the family in question. Santy will come to those four children. I commend Kildare County Council on how efficient it is. I know from speaking to other comrades in my party that not every local authority is acting as well as that.

My urgent concern today is for an elderly couple. This is a gentleman of 80 years of age and his wife is 79 and they are facing homelessness in the new year. They were in my office in Naas yesterday. He had a gentleman's agreement with the landlord that he could stay in the property for life. However, the landlord has died and a legal notice was served on the couple a few weeks ago. A legal notice is now on its way from the solicitor. This gentleman has not been able to tell his wife because she suffers from severe depression and he is afraid of what she might do. It is very much something to have a lovely gentleman standing in your office and saying that he is worried about what his wife might do and facing into Christmas with an eviction notice over their heads. He states that he is 80 and that he cannot tell his wife that they could be evicted because he is afraid of what she might do. We desperately need an eviction ban for these people.

It is noticeable as well that the Minister with responsibility for homelessness has left the Chamber so quickly. He has no respect and does not care less.

Deputy Chris Andrews

Month after month and year after year, we have watched this Government fail to bring the housing crisis under control. From what I can see, this Government is effectively trying to normalise the crisis and trying to get ordinary people to think that this is just the way it is, that these things happen and that it will work its way through it. We in Sinn Féin will never accept this. This Government's failed housing policies are not working and need change. Sinn Féin is committed to being the party that builds affordable homes, regenerates inner-city flat complexes, puts an end to the greed and ensures renters are treated fairly and justly. We need to give workers and their families the type of security which renters across Europe have had for years. This Bill would ensure that ordinary workers and families have that security. The reality of failing to provide these protections is painfully clear to see.

In Dublin this Christmas, over 3,000 children will wake up in emergency accommodation. I met one family today who are in a homeless hub. For them, with three children, what they are going through is absolutely devastating. It is traumatic.

The long-term effect cannot be underestimated and we should not be accepting this as a normal behaviour. This Bill will protect workers and families who pay their rent on time - renters who fulfil their side of the agreement, but are left exposed to the whim of a landlord who might all of a sudden want them out. Families and workers need to be put first.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

I thank everybody who spoke on the legislation, especially those who supported it. After three years of the Minister of State's Government being in office, the homelessness crisis has never been worse. That is a blatant, blunt fact. Each month it gets worse. New records are broken every single month by this Government when it comes to homelessness. As shocking as these new records are, they mask the real impact of homelessness on workers and families, on their financial resilience, on their mental health and on their relationships.

Crucially, the impact on children was mentioned a lot in this debate. Children are deprived of security, deprived of comfort and deprived of the freedom to have a place they can call home. I am a father of four children and I would go through a wall for my child. I think about the many families who have been let down by the Minister of State's Government - by this State - who find themselves in emergency accommodation month after month with the numbers continuing to increase, while Government Members are going to march in here and vote to allow people be evicted over Christmas. Where is the compassion from the Government? The Minister of State should look around the empty benches where his Government colleagues should be. The Minister for housing should be here to listen to colleagues debating this issue. We could fill this Chamber 25 times over with just the children who are in emergency accommodation, just the children who will wake up on Christmas Day without a place to call home.

We are trying to put forward solutions, through the legislation, that will ban no-fault evictions. Even the British at the time of the Great Famine, the Great Hunger, had more compassion than the Minister of State’s Government is showing, because they introduced legislation that did not allow evictions to happen at Christmas. We heard from other speakers that this is the norm in other European countries across the Continent. Those countries have rental systems far bigger than ours, far more vibrant than ours and which get investment more than ours, but there is an understanding and a compassion there that you should not be evicting people at Christmas. There are children who are not just going to spend their first Christmas Day in emergency accommodation, nor their second, but their third and in some cases their fourth. That is how appalling the record of this Government on housing and homelessness is. That is on the Minister of State’s watch. It is on Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party’s watch.

We heard many individuals’ stories during the debate. In my county there is a mother of three who has recently been diagnosed with cancer. She has an eviction notice. She does not know where she is going to go after Christmas. She has no idea. There is no dedicated emergency accommodation in the municipal districts of Glenties, Lifford and Donegal town. This young lady currently has nowhere else to go. She faces a Christmas of uncertainty and a winter of despair. This legislation could help her and the hundreds of others like her and give them the comfort of knowing they will not be evicted at Christmas because the legislation Sinn Féin has brought forward through Deputy Ó Broin will guarantee they will not be evicted before the end of March.

In combination with that, the Government needs to ramp up the type of social housing and cost rental housing we require. The stories the Minister of State heard articulated by my colleagues and those on the Opposition benches are not stories from a Victorian novel or Charles Dickens’s tales, but the lived realities of people across this State. Where is the Minister of State’s compassion? I ask every TD in here where their compassion is. They should not vote for people to be evicted at Christmas. We have legislation here that works in other European jurisdictions. It is the least we should do. When this State - this Government - has failed those families over and over again by not providing alternative accommodation, let us ensure there is room in the inn. Let us ensure they are not evicted at Christmas.

Question put.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Verona Murphy)

In accordance with Standing Order 80(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time tomorrow evening.