Paul Murphy: Exposes 'shed sits' and corporate capture
Paul Murphy challenges the Taoiseach over what he calls corporate capture of government policy, accusing a corporate think tank and landlords of promoting so-called 'shed sits' without planning or tenant protections. Murphy questions official claims and raises concerns about evictions, legal safeguards and the role of Progress Ireland and the Collison Brothers.
Allegations of corporate capture: Paul Murphy directly accuses a corporate think tank set up by the Collison Brothers of promoting proposals that would allow landlords to build 'shed sits' with no planning permission and limited tenant protections. He frames the measure as benefiting landlords while creating a second-class of precarious renters.
Ministerial statements and pushback: Murphy contrasts those allegations with comments from Minister John Cummins, who described the proposal as aimed at family members and not a rental measure. Murphy highlights a video and media remarks by the minister and presses the Taoiseach on whether the government will accept these changes.
Context and parliamentary exchange: The Taoiseach responded by insisting the idea is about supply and noting longstanding parliamentary debate on rural extensions and outbuildings. Murphy disputes this framing, stresses the landlord interests behind the proposal, and warns of the implications for tenant rights and access to the RTB.
Implications for housing and tenants: The exchange raises questions about planning, legal protections, eviction procedures and who benefits from proposed changes. Murphy frames the issue as central to housing justice and accountability in government policy making.
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Thanks, Ciann Comhairle. Taoiseach, I want to ask about corporate capture of your government. Enabling landlords to build shed sits with no planning permission, to rent them out with no legal protections, to evict tenants at any time with no right of repeal, with no reason, with no basis to go to the RTB. Where did this dystopian idea come from? A corporate think tank set up by the billionaire Collison Brothers. Plugging the idea two years ago, Progress Ireland boasted there could be 350,000 such shed sits. And they said they could be built based on whether rents were high enough to justify building one. This always had landlords' greasy fingers all over it, but your minister John Cummins claimed that it would only be for family members. He still has a video up on Facebook saying it would give younger people and older people the option to live independently of the family home while retaining support of the rental family network. And he told RT he didn't see it as a rental measure. Are you going to go along with this creating of a second class of... First of all, you love creating a narrative around every initiative of government. It's not to do with Progress Ireland or anything like that, but it is to do with supply. I'll be straight up, it's not their idea. There was deputies all over this house who were advocating for this long before Progress Ireland was ever established. There's been cases in rural Ireland where people have had difficulties with extensions and buildings in their backs or in their fields or whatever like that, in terms of attached to farmhouses and so on, and people have been taken... So there's a need to balance here, deputy. You've opposed every single measure to do with supply and housing that we've introduced. Like, you name it, any of the housing acts, everything. I don't know what your agenda is ultimately. This is perfect. It's needed, though. And the idea that it can just be... If you think through, it can be, of course, for family members, and it will be very useful for family members. But family members won't be staying forever in a unit out in the back. They'll want to move on as well. And these are not sheds, by the way.
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