I echo the sentiments expressed regarding the loss of life in the city today at lunchtime in the public transport accident. I echo what the Minister of State said about people not posting images of it on social media. Our thoughts are with them. There has been one fatality and a number of injuries. Our best thoughts go from this House to the people involved. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I support the legislation because it addresses two realities that we cannot afford to ignore. First, renters need stronger protections and real security. Second, our rental sector needs a stable, reliable, predictable framework that helps to grow and retain landlords within it. This Bill attempts to do both in a way that replaces a degree of confusion and complexity at times with clarity through a new approach that looks at the entire issue from a national perspective as opposed to a piecemeal geographical perspective. I wish to put a human face on the debate that all of us here as TDs can do by reflecting the reality in our own constituencies. During my time as a TD representing Dublin South-West, I have met far too many people living with deep insecurity in their tenancies. These are people who pay their rent, and exceptionally high rent in some cases. They contribute to their communities and they are trying to raise children and hold down jobs. In some cases, they are carers. They still live with the constant fear of a termination notice. I have spoken to individuals and parents have come to my clinics who are terrified of having to pull their children out of school mid-term or face another long commute across the city because they have been priced out of their area. The Minister for housing is aware of this as well and is sympathetic to it. As colleagues have, I have listened to renters who simply cannot make a plan for the future because they do not know if they will be in the same home in six months. As we all know, housing insecurity affects every facet of life, including work, family stability, health, mental health and well-being. That is why the most important promise in this Bill is greater security of tenure. The Bill significantly restricts so-called no-fault evictions for new tenancies. The Minister has strengthened protections in a way that renters will feel in their day-to-day lives. It certainly brings a measure of medium- to long-term stability that simply does not exist unless one has the securest of tenancies. A major step forward is the restriction on no-fault evictions, particularly in relation to larger landlords. From 1 March 2026, tenants entering new tenancies with landlords and companies who hold four or more tenancies will no longer face no-fault evictions. That is a profound shift in the balance of security for renters. Importantly, tenants of smaller landlords, which is those of three or fewer tenancies, will also benefit from substantially improved protections. This matters in a constituency like Dublin South-West where many renters are renting from smaller landlords and need clearer, fairer rules. The Minister is also building on the principle of long-term renting by strengthening tenure duration in the Bill. That goes back to the original point made in the Bill of people being able to plan their lives. A six-year period gives a degree of security. I hope some day that we get to that Vienna model where people can take out a tenancy for life that reflects their living situation and the changing life situation, they are in whether it is illness, out of work or retirement and reflects the manner in which people live. This gives people a degree of security moving forward through rolling tenancies of a minimum duration of six years for new tenancies. That is another tangible improvement in stability for individuals and their families. That ability to plan matters affects children, schooling, employment, carer and whether people can truly build a life in a new community and set down strong roots. The Bill introduces a simpler and fairer rent control framework nationally. I never quite got my head around some of the rules that have applied for the past decade or so. We are moving from rent pressure zones to a national system of rent control providing clarity and consistency across the country. Annual rent increases for covered tenancies will be capped in line with inflation using the consumer price index with a 2% cap in higher inflation periods. That is a real comfort for renters. It is a clear straightforward protection for tenants and removes the unevenness and confusion that developed under the rent pressure zones. I welcome the increased emphasis on transparency in rent setting, including measures aimed at improving the information available in the system around rent levels. Better transparency supports fairness for tenants and better compliance overall. As the Minister has been in his contributions to the debate and about housing generally since his appointment, I wish to be direct about supply. Supply of new builds is the only durable way to bring down pressures on the rental sector. Protecting tenants is essential. I have outlined that in the first part of my contribution. We must also ensure that the rental sector is capable of growing. The current system has not been serving people properly. The Housing Agency review informed the legal framing and direction of these reforms. We need a functioning market that supports the construction of more rental homes, especially apartments and that retains landlords who might otherwise exit the sector. This is why the Minister has provided measures in this Bill designed to retain and attract investment and new supply while pairing those measures with stronger security for tenants. The ability to set rent to market at the start of a new tenancy in defined circumstances and to reset between tenancies is part of that balancing act. However, in return, tenants get stronger security of tenure, including a six-year rolling minimum duration and significant restrictions on termination grounds. I think the Minister has tried to make that balance central to his package of general reforms of the market. On the development of new apartments, and new developments generally, the Minister's approach links rent changes to inflation. This is intended to deliver certainty and encourage investment and building at scale. Having listened to the Minister, I know he has done his homework on this. The country urgently needs more rental accommodation and apartments in particular. Investors like to have certainty, a predictable playing pitch and clear visibility of the horizon ahead. The Minister's objective is to make delivery more predictable in order that the pipeline of new rental homes can grow. Regarding the timing and fairness of the legislation, I support the provision that these measures are designed to apply to new tenancies from 1 March this year. That gives clarity as to who is affected and when. It ensures the new framework will be introduced in an orderly way as the rent pressure zone provisions expire. The Bill offers necessary and balanced reform. It is one of many such reforms the Minister has introduced. Since his appointment, his approach has been to take his time while being very thorough and to come up with a good policy at the end of that thoroughness. The Bill supports the conditions needed to grow rental supply. For renters in my constituency and elsewhere, who include families, workers, students, carers, retired people, older people, single people and married people, security and predictability are not luxuries; they are the foundation of a stable life. I believe and hope this legislation will move us in that direction. I join the Minister in commending it to the House.

Sentiment score: 0.21