Christopher O'Sullivan
Cork South-West · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“The aim of the hierarchy of the plan-making, as set out in the Act of 2024, is to improve scope for the various tiers of the planning system to more closely relate to one another, therefore providing greater clarity and consistency for all involved, from individual citizens and residents' groups to landowners and developers and ultimately…”
“My understanding is that a ten-year modernisation programme has already been undertaken by the Courts Service and significant progress has been made in improving the availability and use of court data.”
“Under the Act of 2024, the national planning framework continues to spearhead and explicate the planning agenda and sits at the pinnacle of the plan-led system and structure, whereby all tiers of planning from regional to local align with strategic objectives set out in the national planning framework.”
“The Senator has suggested that such plans would identify strategic development priorities, including settlement hierarchy, infrastructure corridors, climate adaptation measures and areas for regeneration; set out indicative phasing for major infrastructure and public investment; include spatial mapping of long-term development objectives;…”
“The Bill also facilitates the completion of the work of the Valuation Tribunal and the facility for the local authority to issue the levy demand and, where necessary, for An Coimisiún Pleanála to deal with any appeals to the demand that may arise in those existing cases currently with the tribunal.”
“As the system of plan-making in the State has just been revised and is being implemented for the first time, the introduction of another layer of plan-making could undermine the new hierarchy that was carefully arranged and agreed following extensive engagement with a range of stakeholders, including the Office of the Attorney General, an…”
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“In addition to the range of housing supports that are available nationally and the clear focus on tackling barriers to delivery, a national planning statement will be prepared for housing in the Gaeltacht. My Department will also continue to work with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Údarás na Gaeltachta, and other stakeholders to support housing delivery, including in relation to the necessary infrastructure to support housing development in an Ghaeltacht. Considerable work has already been carried out by both Departments in developing the new national planning statement, which will be published in the first half of 2027.”
“Fáiltím roimh an deis plé a dhéanamh ar sholáthar tithíochta i gceantair Ghaeltachta. Ní chuirfidh an Rialtas in aghaidh an rúin seo maidir leis an ngá práinneach le tithíocht agus le pleananna an Rialtais an soláthar tithíochta a mhéadú go suntasach ar fud na tíre, lena n-áirítear ceantair Ghaeltachta. Le comhaontú an Tí, leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh le mo ráiteas i mBéarIa. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Browne, has discussed in detail the suite of actions in the Government's housing action plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030, that will increase the levels of housing supply and housing choice across the country, including in Gaeltacht areas. What is committed in the Government's housing plan with respect to the Gaeltacht is clear.”
“I am acutely aware of the profound impact homelessness has on individuals, particularly children, and addressing homelessness is a key priority under Delivering Homes, Building Communities. It is only through the increased provision of housing that we will begin to see a consistent drop in the numbers accessing emergency accommodation. We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. We recognise that a radical step change is needed in housing supply. That is why we are using every lever at our disposal. We remain steadfast in our commitment to meet the challenge head on and ensure all those who aspire to independence in the housing market can realise their aspiration. I hope we can work in a collaborative way across the House so we can continue to increase the supply of housing.”
“In parallel, we will provide an average of 15,000 affordable housing supports annually through the starter homes programme and related initiatives. The help-to-buy and first home schemes continue to bridge the gap for first-time buyers struggling with deposits and mortgage limits. These schemes are not abstract policy instruments. They are enabling thousands of households to purchase their first homes. Budget 2026 has continued the record level of investment in social housing, with €2.9 billion in capital allocated to support the delivery of social homes by local authorities. This continued investment in the social housing programme will increase the supply of stock available to allocate to households on the social housing waiting list, including households in emergency accommodation.”
“It will focus on projects that can move quickly and at scale. We want strong, deliverable projects that can hit the ground running and start unblocking housing delivery immediately. Housing delivery is at the centre of the revised national development plan. We are investing €102 billion over the next five years, an additional €33.9 billion on the previous national development plan allocation. Overall investment of over €40 billion will be provided for housing and related water services to 2030. This funding will support vital water infrastructure projects, address historical bottlenecks in the system and accelerate us towards our delivery targets. Over the lifetime of this plan, we will deliver an average of 12,000 new social homes each year. That is an unprecedented commitment.”
“This includes almost €20 billion to support the delivery of the 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable home supports over the next five years. It also includes €12.2 billion for water and wastewater services and €3.5 billion in equity funding for ESB Networks and EirGrid to make sure that we have the capacity in these vital services to make housing connections as and when they are needed. The Uisce Éireann investment is particularly significant. In January this year, the Government announced a new multi-annual €1 billion housing infrastructure investment fund to support direct investment in housing enabling infrastructure. The new fund will be managed by the housing activation office and will complement investment by infrastructure agencies, such as Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks, as part of a more co-ordinated approach.”
“Reaching the target of 300,000 new homes will only be achieved through the individual and collective effort of the key delivery partners. Local authorities, together with approved housing bodies, the Land Development Agency and the construction sector, will be critical to delivering and enabling the delivery of the quantum of homes needed over the lifetime of the plan. Central government will provide the policy, regulatory and funding frameworks to support housing delivery. Further to this, Delivering Homes, Building Communities is enabled by the largest ever capital investment in the history of the State. A total of €275 billion will be invested over the next ten years under the national development plan to significantly upgrade our infrastructure and make the environment for building homes much better. This cannot be overstated.”
“This will not be easy and there is no one single solution that will solve the housing challenges we face. Delivering Homes, Building Communities takes pragmatic action across a number of different policy areas to boost housing supply while ensuring that the new homes delivered support the people who need them the most. These two key objectives provide the foundational pillars in the plan: activating supply and supporting people. The first pillar, activating supply, is about removing structural barriers to homebuilding and ensuring we deliver 300,000 new homes in the lifetime of this plan. This includes measures aimed at unlocking land, reforming planning, delivering infrastructure and creating the conditions needed to increase investment in housing supply.”
“Affordable housing schemes are now operating at scale and the affordable housing delivery programme continues to be expanded and developed year on year, supported by unprecedented levels of State investment. The Government will continue to bring forward measures that will increase the supply of new homes across all tenures to make sure that everyone has a range of housing options available to them. More than 18,900 affordable housing supports were provided by quarter 3 of 2025, increasing home ownership for families and ordinary workers. Over the past five years, almost 149,000 new homes have been delivered. This is significant progress, which must be recognised. It also gives the Government a strong platform to scale up housing delivery and under our new plan, we are focused on delivery.”
“In 2023 and 2024, we saw delivery of newly built social housing reach levels not seen since the 1970s, with almost 16,000 social homes built. Between July 2020 and the end of quarter 3 of 2025, over 52,300 social homes were added to the social housing stock and more than 14,100 homes were brought back into use under the voids programme. The pipeline is also strong. The latest construction status report showed over 25,000 social homes at all stages of design and build in Ireland at the end of September 2025. Direct funding for housing is at record levels. In 2026 alone, over €9 billion in capital funding will be provided through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency, LDA, and the Housing Finance Agency, HFA.”
“By the end of 2030, there will be 72,000 additional new-build social homes, built for those in our society who need them most. Our goal remains a housing system that truly serves the needs of our people. That is why we are committed to also providing 90,000 affordable housing supports. Delivering Homes, Building Communities is ambitious, but the Government is fully committed to making it a reality. This is an integrated housing and homelessness plan that reaffirms the whole-of-government approach to addressing the housing crisis. It will ensure that the funding and the strategies deployed to address housing and homelessness are fully aligned at all times. The plan will build on progress already made.”
“More than 36,000 were completed. Delivering Homes, Building Communities builds on the achievements and progress already made under Housing for All to further accelerate housing delivery. The key difference between Housing for All and this plan is a greater emphasis on creating the environment for more homes. To deliver more homes at speed, the State will do more but this plan will also empower others, particularly those in the private sector, to play their part. A significantly greater supply of housing can be achieved through a balanced approach focused on both directly supporting people to have a home of their own but also creating the best possible conditions for the industry to build and to activate more homes. This new plan commits to the building of 300,000 new homes.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, will outline specifically how the plan will ensure the provision of supports to older people and vulnerable cohorts in our society. The Minister, Deputy Browne, will conclude the discussion by outlining the many actions in the new housing plan that are specifically targeted at ending homelessness. The Government is acutely aware that homelessness is the single most pressing social issue that we face and the impact that experiences of homelessness have on households and children, in particular. With this in mind, the programme for Government and the new housing plan reaffirmed lreland’s commitment to working towards ending homelessness by 2030. Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness. Last year saw the highest number of homes completed in more than a decade.”
“I am delighted to be joined by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell. The Minister, Deputy Browne, cannot be here for the opening section of these statements because he is at a subcommittee meeting and otherwise engaged. He will be here, however, to give concluding statements. He will be kept up to date as to the comments made during the statements from right across the House. I welcome the opportunity to come before the House to speak on this most important issue of homelessness and the work being undertaken by this Government in responding to it. I will set out how the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, is building on the progress made in recent years to increase housing delivery across the board and social housing, in particular.”
“It would also negate the need to have an arbitration process that is subject of section 3 of the Bill. Therefore, while I thank the Senators for their proposed amendments I cannot accept any of them.”
“The relevant directive and the international conventions require that member states lay down the conditions as to the sharing of the remuneration between them in the absence of an agreement between them. As part of the court case, it emerged that 18 member states provide in their copyright laws that in the absence of agreement between the parties, the single equitable remuneration following deduction of management costs is shared equally between producers and performers. The new provision will act as an incentive to the parties to reach an agreement along those lines. However, we do not wish to remove the right from producers and performers to reach an agreement between themselves as to sharing the remuneration that may differ from an equal share. Mandating equal sharing in all cases would remove this freedom to negotiate.”
“The Government does not intend to legislate on this point. In addition, subsection (3B) of the Bill states that the sharing of equitable remuneration can be agreed by or on behalf of the performer and the owner who is the producer. On the proposed amendment regarding the calculation of equitable remuneration, the Bill sets out a new process to decide how equitable remuneration is shared if this cannot be agreed by those involved, as is required by the EU rental and lending directive. First, there is a 50:50 split. This is a new inclusion. Second, there is a possibility for the parties to negotiate a different split. This is contained in the current copyright Act. Third, there is a possibility for either party, if they cannot reach an agreement, to refer the matter to the Circuit Court to make a determination on that matter.”
“4, the Senators wish to delete the provision regarding limiting appeal from the Circuit Court to the High Court and from the High Court to the Court of Appeal to a point of law. The Government objects to this, which is a common provision in legislation. I thank Senator Black for proposing amendment No. 5 but I am unable to accept it. As discussed in response to amendment No. 1, this amendment extends beyond the scope of the Bill. It must be remembered that under Irish law the producer and performer may be represented by a collective management organisation of their choice, or none at all. In Ireland, this matter was the subject of a court case that concluded in 2021. This is a separate case to the one that was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union. There is no question that Irish law is defective in this regard.”
“For exceptional cases where this 50:50 split is not deemed acceptable, the courts possess the requisite authority to adjudicate on matters of equity, drawing on case law and long-standing tradition of applying equitable remedies. The controller has statutory functions under the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, which are mainly concerned with the registration of copyright licensing bodies, references and applications relating to licensing schemes operated by those bodies. For this particular type of dispute, which is complex and also very rare, the courts are best placed to adjudicate on such matters. Furthermore, a judgment of the court is enforceable, which is not the case for determinations made by the controller. In amendment No.”
“The Senators propose to retain the function of the controller as final arbitrary of disputes as to the sharing of equitable remuneration, which the Government does not accept. The Bill removes this function from the controller. This is necessary in the view of the Government. This point has been discussed both in Dáil Éireann and on last week's Second Stage debate in this Chamber. The reassignment of functions from the Comptroller of Intellectual Property to the courts constituted an appropriate and necessary course of action. Adjudication of a dispute by the controller under section 208 of the Act extends beyond the scope of intellectual property law and requires the application of equitable principles. For this reason, the Bill proposes to set out clearly a 50:50 sharing, which we expect will apply in the vast majority of cases.”
“Third, if either party is not happy with the 50:50 split, they may make an application to the Circuit Court for adjudication. The proposed amendment to subsection (8) proposes to allow the controller to make a person or organisation party to such proceedings. However, this is not necessary. Subsection (3B) of the Bill states that the sharing of equitable remuneration can be agreed by or on behalf of the performer and the owner who is a producer. It is already the case that a performer or producer may be represented by their representative body or a collective management organisation for the purpose of reaching an agreement. This is provided for in section 208(2), which states that the right to equitable remuneration can be assigned by a performer to a collecting society to exercise that right on his or her behalf.”
“Justification is already required and this forms part of the consideration as to what is reasonable. On that basis, the wording as proposed in the Bill is preferred, and the Government believes it provides the intended level of protection for performers. In section 208(2), the term "collecting society" is substituted for "collective management organisation". The term "collecting society" was chosen to ensure consistency with other part of the Copyright and Related Rights Act. Not all collective management organisations are collecting societies. Regarding the proposed wording in subsections (4), (5) and (8), the Minister, Deputy Burke, set out last week the rationale for the proposed new three steps, which are the following. First, a default 50:50 split applies in the first instance. Second, parties may negotiate a different agreement.”
“2 to section 208(1), the Senators have proposed working that includes "justifiable and documented" collecting costs rather than "reasonable" collecting costs, as stated in the Bill. Detailed provisions on the deductible administrative costs apply to collective management organisations through the collective rights management regulations, which transpose the collective rights management directive. These regulations provide that any deductions made by collective management organisations must be justified and documented. The wording is already contained within those regulations. These deductions are subject to further scrutiny by the competent authority, the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland. The wording of the Bill was carefully considered. The word "reasonable" was chosen as it requires consideration of the question of fairness.”
“There is a bit of detail in the proposed amendments. I acknowledge Paul Noonan in the Gallery. It is probably of no consolation whatsoever to him but "Alphabet Soup" by Bell X1 got me through my college days. They are an incredibly talented band. Senator Black is absolutely right that we are so rich with the number of talented artists we have in this country. Unfortunately, I cannot accept any of these amendments. I will speak to amendments Nos. 2 to 5, inclusive, together. While I appreciate their intention, I cannot accept them. I will try to explain in as much detail as possible, amendment by amendment and subsection by subsection, why we cannot do so. In amendment No.”
“Senator McDowell quite rightly outlined that the Government has not implemented the ruling of the ECJ. That is exactly the purpose of this legislation. That is why we are introducing it. We need to transpose the European legislation. I am not sure where this figure of 25% remuneration comes from. It is mentioned as a likely split. We are specifically stating there should be fair and equitable remuneration and we are saying that is a 50:50 split. That is actually specifically referenced in the Bill. Therefore, I cannot accept this amendment as proposed.”
“Ireland must therefore ensure that performers receive their fair share, and this is now expressly being defined by this Bill as 50%, minus the collecting costs. Section 2 of the Bill before House sets out the new arrangements to improve this process. The Bill makes it very clear that producers must share the equitable remuneration with performers. In the vast majority of cases, performers will receive 50%, minus the administrative costs. That is the context in which we are not accepting this amendment.”
“Section 38 of the 2000 Act provides for equitable renumeration to be paid to the producers. I did not realise "remuneration" was so difficult to say until I said it aloud. It is the case that there are different models in place within the EU as to how payments are collected and distributed. This is not at issue, and Irish law has not been found to be defective in this regard. Article 12 of the Rome Convention also provides that domestic law may, in the absence of agreement between these parties, lay down the conditions as to the sharing of this remuneration. This is repeated in the rental and lending directive, which requires member states to ensure the remuneration is shared between the relevant performers and producers.”
“The Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, as amended, implements EU and international law in the area of copyright. The Rome Convention is an international convention for the protection of performers, producers, phonograms and broadcasting organisations. Article 12 of the convention, which was considered by the Court of Justice of the European Union, provides that if a music recording is published, broadcast or communicated to the public, a single equitable remuneration is paid by the user. This is set out in section 38 of the 2000 Act. Article 12 of the convention also provides that this single equitable renumeration shall be paid by the user to the performer, to the producer or to both. This provision is replicated in the rental and lending directive.”
“It is a pleasure to be in the Seanad. I am representing the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, who unfortunately is not able to attend today. I have had a very good briefing from officials. I watched some of the Second Stage debate when the Minister, Deputy Burke, brought the Bill to this House. I understand there was some really good engagement on that occasion. This short Bill is very much a response to the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling in 2020. I appreciate the amendments, and I appreciate that Senators are advocating on behalf of a sector they know well. Of course we know that Senator Black, in particular, has a deep understanding of the sector. While I thank Senators McDowell and Conway for proposing this amendment, I wish to explain why I will not be accepting it.”
“The tenant in situ scheme is still an option for local authorities for a variety of reasons, especially when it comes to people who are exiting homelessness. It is very important to say that the scheme has not been scrapped. Again, the Housing Agency report is available on the Housing Agency website. I urge the Senator to view it because the recommendations within have informed this legislation. It certainly was not back-of-the-envelope calculations, which I think is what Members have done to come up with figures like €3,500 for Cork South-West. If the people of Cork South-West are listening, I can tell them there is no evidence that is going to happen. I want to ensure that is out there. I cannot support this amendment.”
“There will be one in 12 months anyway, which is one of the reasons we are opposing this amendment. That is what it specifically asks for. I do not think it gives enough time for a proper assessment and review, but that is okay. That part of the amendment is fine. However, it also deletes the lines that allow me or the Minister to commence the provisions of the Bill, which means there can be no report. I hope that makes sense. That is why we are opposing the amendment.”
“I say to Senator Andrews that there has been sufficient analysis of the rental market over the past two years to inform this legislation. There is absolutely no doubt about that whatsoever. Not only that, there has been engagement with the housing and homelessness NGOs, including Threshold, Focus Ireland, the Simon Communities, etc. There is no doubt about that whatsoever. As I said, the Housing Agency and the Housing Commission are often quoted in this House, and we should listen to them. I ask everyone to go and visit the Housing Agency website and view the report which specifically says that we need a reset. That is exactly what we are doing. In order to answer the specific question and try to avoid confusion, this amendment seeks a report within three months of publication of the legislation. That is fine.”
“The main reason we cannot accept this amendment is because it precludes me from commencing the provisions of the Bill. At the same time, the Opposition is looking for a report in three months' time. It does not make sense. That is one of the main reasons we cannot support this amendment.”
“No-fault evictions are no longer legal for landlords who have four tenancies or more, that is, the larger landlords. That is unprecedented. It has been called for in both Houses for a long time. That is what this legislation does. Yet, the Opposition is opposing it. That does not make sense to me. Even for smaller landlords, there is a very limited set of reasons where notices of termination can be served. Rent pressure zones are nationwide. I say it again. I am surprised at how this is being characterised. I am surprised at the level of opposition. As I have summarised, what the Bill is doing is giving greater protection to tenants and increasing supply, which is exactly what is being sought. I was called petty for not accepting this amendment.”
“I appreciate the comments from Senators but I feel that this Bill is being completely mis-characterised. As I said at the outset, the types of people the Senators are describing, including those facing homelessness, those in emergency accommodation and those who are afraid of extortionate rent hikes, are exactly the people we are trying to protect and cater for. If you listen to what the Bill actually does, I am surprised that it is being characterised like that and I am surprised that the Opposition is not supporting it. Six-year tenancies, and rolling, are guaranteed. That is unprecedented. That is security of tenure. Landlords will only be able to reset the rent if the previous tenant has left of their own volition. That is unprecedented security and protection for tenants.”
“To reiterate that point, the motivation of this legislation is to have the dual effect of, first, increasing supply and creating an environment where it is again viable to build units, apartments in particular, and, second, there is security of tenancy, which is also key. It is about protecting the tenant but also increasing supply. That is really important. I agree with Senator Harmon that the word "landlord" should be done away with. That is just my own opinion. I do not know what the potential is for that happening. I agree with the Senator that is an outdated term. To come back to the amendments, this amendment deletes the lines that will allow me to move the provisions in the Bill, yet it is asking for a report within three months. It does not make sense and it cannot work.”
“Everything possible should be done to accommodate such women. However, again what is being lost in the conversation is that we now have a nationwide rent pressure zone, which means there are controls, and we also have security of tenure. In addition, new tenancies will not be reset to market value. A question that was repeatedly asked was when we will see a cooling down of the significant and unprecedented increase in rents currently seen throughout the country. Again, supply is the key here. We have to get supply to critical mass so that we get to the point where supply is sufficient. Senator Harmon referred to pensioners.”
“Direct funding for housing will be at unprecedented levels. In 2026 alone, more than €9 billion in capital funding will be provided through the Exchequer to the LDA and the Housing Finance Agency. This cannot be seen in a silo. It is all part of an approach across different Departments and Government agencies to ensure we increase supply at record levels. This legislation ensures the involvement of the private sector, which is key. However, the State is doing more than ever. The State currently delivers the biggest proportion of housing in the country. That is probably not how it should be. We scale up and do as much as we can to increase delivery. However, the private sector will have to play its part. Senator Stephenson referred to women fleeing domestic violence, which is a really important consideration. I appreciate her doing that.”
“We are seeing some positive outcomes with the trends in the delivery of housing. Since 2022, 4,500 homes have been delivered by AHBs, local authorities the Land Development Agency. There is a strong pipeline of future developments with over 5,150 additional affordable purchase homes approved for support from affordable housing funds across 22 local authorities. Indications are good. From a funding point of view, money is not the issue. This legislation should not be seen in isolation. The plan is being enabled by the largest ever capital investment in the history of the State of €275 billion over ten years to significantly upgrade the country's infrastructure and make the environment for building homes much better. We are trying to put in place an environment for a significant upscaling and delivery of housing.”
“-----by driving up the supply of apartments and other units. It is all about supply. Of course there are other factors. We have to introduce affordable housing schemes and we are. We have to introduce social housing. We are building record amounts of social housing. That is all part of it. There is no one silver bullet to fix the housing crisis; there are many elements to this. Senators also mentioned affordability. There is quite a lot of work being done on that issue. The Government's new plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, contains an action plan with regard to housing supply and targeting homelessness between 2025 and 2030. It will provide 90,000 affordable supports to help people secure a home of their own. That is the ambition in the plan over the next while.”
“We are bringing in this legislation to ensure there is supply. As I have said previously, the industry has reacted well to the potential for the delivery of units. That is something we welcome. While there has been a lot of commentary in this House today, there is also been a lot of positive commentary about this legislation that has not been mentioned. Senator Andrews mentioned rents in Dublin estates on quite a few occasions. If we talk about it honestly, Dublin will benefit more from this legislation than anywhere else-----”
“It is quite well known that the Sinn Féin housing spokesperson in the Oireachtas has a very long list according to the lobbying register. By the way, I do not criticise him for that. In order to get the solutions, we need to talk to as many people as possible. For example, we have gone out and spoken to the NGOs, including Threshold and the Simon Community. We need engagement at all levels. I do not know why this is being used as a political tool. The Senator mentioned the idea of bringing down rents to drive up rents. The simple fact is that we have a population that is growing significantly. We do not have the supply of units to meet the demand that exists. That is why rents are increasing. We are bringing in a rent pressure zone nationally to ensure that we have those protections.”
“There is absolutely no indication that this will happen. I do not know where the Senator is getting that from. I will certainly not be going back to my constituents in Cork South-West with that type of scaremongering. Senators spoke about the legislation being rushed through, hammered through and so on. We knew this was coming last summer, and even prior to that. We knew of the date of 1 March at that time. This has not been just thought up and rushed through the Dáil. There was pre-legislative scrutiny in respect of this legislation. That is not rushing legislation through the Dáil. I just wanted to address that. Senator Andrews talked about lobbying and the influence of big developers who have access to the Oireachtas.”
“Existing tenancies cannot reset to market rent. How could I go back to my constituents in Cork South-West and say that their rents are going to increase? Existing tenancies cannot reset to market rent. This only applies to first-time tenancies from 1 March.”
“Those are figures that he has extrapolated from some report or that he has seen. What he outlined is absolutely not the case.”
“I thank Senators for their contributions. It was stated that we are listening to the investors and that this is what is driving the legislation. That is absolutely not the case. The motivation behind this legislation is to support the types of people and situations Senators have been describing, namely the women in emergency accommodation and the pensioners in private rented accommodation. That is exactly what we are trying to do here. We are introducing security of tenure and a nationwide rent pressure zone, which was not there before. I keep coming back to the example of Clonakilty in my area which did not have any rent control restrictions. The latter was non-existent, and now Clonakilty has them. That is exactly the motivation behind the Bill. Senator Andrews mentioned that rents in Cork are going up by €3,500 per year.”
“I have said it before that all of us have people coming to our clinics and offices who are desperately seeking rental accommodation. They all refer to the fact that they have been on daft.ie and other platforms that offer places to rent but that those places are not there. We are trying to fix this by increasing supply. The legislation will do that. We cannot accept the amendment for the reasons I have outlined.”
“That is exactly what the Bill is trying to deal with. It is trying to increase supply in order that, once and for all, we can see the homelessness figures go in the opposite direction to the one in which they are going at present. There was reference to the fact there is no evidence it would work. As already stated, the response of the industry so far has been quite positive. We expect to see an increase in the supply of apartments in particular. This legislation has been described as confusing, but I would describe the amendment as very confusing. As stated, it would delete the lines that allow me to move the provisions in the Bill but asks for a report at the same time. I do not see how that could work. This legislation is aimed at supply.”
“For the past number of years when I was in here, the Housing Agency was referenced and the question of why we were not listening to the Housing Agency and the Housing Commission was asked a number of times but we have done so. What they have asked us to do is strike a balance between ensuring that landlords remain in the market for rental accommodation and increasing the supply of apartments and securing the protection of tenants. That is what we have done, especially by expanding the RPZs nationally. That never happened before. I often use the example of my hometown of Clonakilty, which was not in an RPZ. It was not offered the protection that RPZs offer to tenants, and now it is. We also have to think of those people who are renting outside RPZs. There was reference to homelessness numbers.”
“There is a chronic shortage of apartments to lease or rent and that is exactly what this Bill is trying to do. Whether we like it or not, we will require some element of the private sector for the delivery of homes. Some people do not like to hear that and will not accept that but that is a fact if we are to increase supply and delivery of apartments. So far, the reaction of industry to these measures has been good. Also, many Senators referenced the anxiety or fear tenants have about being served with notices of termination. Again, what this legislation aims to do is extend the security of tenure; to extend the security of the tenancy to six years. That is unprecedented and it is essentially rolling. The Bill tries to strike that balance.”