Danny Healy-Rae warns on evictions, urges tenant protections
Danny Healy-Rae spoke about a housing bill, urging protections for tenants and landlords and warning against provisions that could enable evictions. He called for measures to increase housing availability, revive the tenant purchase scheme and simplify supports for families.
Opening remarks
He congratulated Dara O'Brien on his new post and said he looked forward to working with him, stressing the importance of ministers listening to deputies who represent constituents. He also declared himself "a connected person" with links to someone who rents houses.
Concerns over evictions and security of tenure
He warned he would be very concerned if the bill allowed "vulture funds" to evict people from their homes and emphasised that security of tenure is vital for tenants in troubled times. He cited job losses and the ongoing impact of the virus as reasons to extend protections for tenants.
Support for landlords and tax issues
He argued that good landlords must be protected to maintain housing supply, saying many landlords are "pulling out" and raising the tax burden as a reason. He gave an example from his conversations with landlords that if they get €1,000 a month they often pay roughly half back in tax.
Council housing, voids and the tenant purchase scheme
He said availability in towns such as Killarney, Kimer and Dingle was scarce and criticised limited local authority building and a lack of funding to repair void houses. He appealed to the minister to bring forward the tenant purchase scheme to give councils funds to refurbish voids and return vacant houses to use.
Criticism of the HAP scheme and next steps
He described the HAP scheme as cumbersome for landlords and families, saying it can take three to four months to house a family and involves complex payments to landlords and local authorities. He closed by saying he would continue practical daily discussions with the minister and would bring proposals forward for consideration.
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I too am glad to get a chance to talk on this bill here today and I want to thank you, first of all I want to congratulate Dara O'Brien on his new post and I look forward to working with you Dara and I know from knowing the kind of a man you are approachable and all that I know that we're going to at least be able to consult with you and that you will listen to us and that's the most important thing that you will listen to the voice of the deputies here inside who are relating the concerns of the constituents out there that we're representing I want to welcome the extinction of this time and there was oh yes I must also declare that I'm a connected person I don't rent properties myself but I'm a connected person to a man that is renting houses so anyway the one point that was brought up there I'd be very concerned if this bill in any way allowed vulture funds to evict people out of the their houses and I hope we're not that there's no line in it that that facilitates those kind of people security of thinner is very important to tenants and in these troubled times where people can't pay their way and maybe meet pay all the bills and make ends meet because of the losing jobs or because of this dreadful virus that we're after enduring or that we're still enduring we have to extend the time and you see there are many things and we have to protect the tenants the good tenants and we have to protect the good landlords because if we don't protect the landlords we're going to have more uh demands on the on the limit the less amount of houses I and I know that many landlords are are pulling out now because the one thing that they keep saying to me minister is the cost of the tax whatever if they get a thousand euros a month for a for a house they have to pay back 500 of it in in in tax that's a very serious matter and if we could do something with the tax that the tax take that you're taking from landlords we we could help to reduce the the price of the of the houses for for for the for the tenants and availability of houses in places like killarney kimer and dingle in carry is very scarce at the present time and the local authorities for one reason or other they're building a few now but they're not really building enough minister and you see we would have more council houses only there are so many voids and they don't have funding for to repair these houses and before we used to have the tenant purchase scheme and when when tenants got on their feet and when they were had the funding or could go the route of buying out the house the council got that money and used it for to repair and bring voids back and vacant houses back so that people could be put into them or are are are rented rent rent rent to people that were on on the list and i appeal to minister as part of of your housing ministry to bring forward the tenant purchase scheme to allow uh county councils that funding to bring voids back into into be fit for for tenants uh to to live in again um the the hap scheme uh minister is not appealing to many landlords and and and it's the option that the local authority uh gives so many tenants and and families with three and four children and nowhere else to go the hap scheme is just a hames minister the tenant has to pay so much to the landlord so much to the to the county council to the local authority and the local authority has to pay the landlord it's such a rigmarole it takes three or four months to get a family housed and i'm appealing to minister to do to get rid of that scheme and bring forward forward and uh and only a long-term lease or or even if a landlord will only rent it for a couple of years or whatever a short term lease uh minister i i i i'll talk more i i when i get an opportunity again because there's certain things that can be done and i'll be in discussion with you practically every day i'm experiencing this and i'll be putting together with you now on a buffet of staff you are saying um so
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