Rent protections do not go far enough, opposition TDs say

Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O'Brien said that the bill was "a timely and proportionate response to the continued elevated threat and impact of the pandemic". File picture: RollingNews.ie

The Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien has been accused of "giving with one hand and taking away with the other" as the Residential Tenancies Bill came before the Dáil.

The bill will see the current eviction ban and rent freeze extended to July, but opposition TDs said that the protections in the bill do not go far enough.

Sinn Féin spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said that the bill would mean that tenants who have not lost income due to Covid-19 but have fallen into arrears because of a rent increase could be evicted for non-payment of arrears

"The bill extends protections to a small group of renters for a very short period of time. Crucially, it removes protections from a much larger group of renters with immediate effect. This would be unacceptable in normal times, but it is totally unacceptable in the difficult and dangerous times we find ourselves living in now."

Labour's Duncan Smith said that the protections were not "long-term" and said that the current eviction ban must be decoupled from the 5km travel restrictions.

"Linking the ban on evictions to the 5km restriction was a clear error by the Government. The ban on evictions and rent increases introduced by the Government less than a year ago helped people and gave them certainty in a very uncertain time. 

"That certainty is being eroded and stripped back. The bill before us today does not provide certainty at a time when people are at their most crestfallen and low."

Mr O'Brien said that the bill was "a timely and proportionate response to the continued elevated threat and impact of the pandemic".

Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe said that the bill had to forego pre-legislative scrutiny because of the time-sensitive nature of bill, a decision he as vice-chair of the housing committee "stands over".