Simon Harris

I thank Deputy Murphy and join him in welcoming CBS High School Clonmel. I met a very busy Deputy Murphy - he is very busy; he works hard - last night coming back into the Dáil with Capri-Suns and Hula Hoops and the likes in anticipation of the students' visit today. I hope they will get an opportunity to enjoy that hospitality. He was genuinely looking forward to having them here today. They are …

I am going to check that for the Deputy today with the Minister for Transport and the Minister for public expenditure and reform because everyone is eager to bring this to a conclusion. The Deputy's point about being able to provide clarity to people is reasonable, so I will ask the Ministers to come back to the Deputy urgently on that matter and try to provide clarity for those workers. Consider…

I thank Deputy Coppinger for raising this issue. I extend my full solidarity and that of everyone in this House and every right-thinking person to the victim. Far from discouraging the students who gathered in protest, I commend them on what they did. Sharing abusive images of a person is obviously abhorrent but it is also a crime. I am informed there is a Garda investigation into this and I hope …

I will certainly ask the Minister if he would consider meeting her. That could be useful and important. In the past, Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin highlighted some serious issues to me and did some very good work. I found my meeting with her to be very helpful and insightful so I will certainly ask the Minister, Deputy Lawless, to consider meeting the victim too.

There is a consistent and ongoing effort to misrepresent the factual situation in relation to the new rent rules and rental reform. I welcome the opportunity this morning in the Dáil to, I hope, disprove some of the scaremongering and misinformation and to provide some facts to people who are watching at home and would like to know the facts. First, from 1 March, there is no change at all for exi…

We will see greater protection for renters than ever before. For the very first time ever, we will see nationwide rent pressure zones. For the first time ever, we will see six-year rolling tenancies providing people with that security of tenure. For the first time ever, in many ways, we will see an effective no-fault eviction ban. We brought in very strict and stringent rules in relation to that a…

Other than being able to-----

We are not going to do this; we are going to have a serious conversation. That is other than being able to rise for inflation and, even then, capped at 2%. For the first time ever, somebody who takes out a new tenancy in March will have that six-year security, the protection of an effective no-fault eviction ban, and will also know the rent cannot rise further during that six years, except in line…

These are people the Deputies would know well because Deputy Ó Broin has met them twice in the past year according to the lobbying register. These are investment companies-----

They know well in Sinn Féin. They have met them twice in the past year.

I do not know what Deputy Gould talked to them about but they met them twice.

They have come out and said that what Sinn Féin said about it being 25% simply is not true. They said that the 25% was a projected figure over ten years. Deputy Doherty left that out. It is a projected figure over a period of ten years. Sinn Féin obviously recognises, or at least I think it does, there is a need for private investment to come into the rental market. I presume it does because its m…

What I would say to the young people at home-----

Do not shout me down.

I would like my time protected to answer the question.

I would say to the people watching at home, yesterday, Sinn Féin came into the Dáil and suggested people’s rents were going to rise by 25% in March.

Today, the Sinn Féin spokesperson has acknowledged that is not a fact-----

-----and actually acknowledged a moment ago that his figures may take a number of years to come about.

It has been found out today on national radio by people saying the Sinn Féin leader's representation in this House yesterday was a complete mischaracterisation. Hypocrisy-----

May I speak, please?

Hypocrisy from Sinn Féin is not new when it comes to housing.

We have a situation where Sinn Féin talks about investors as though it does not like them, as though they are not good.

The Sunday Times last week showed Sinn Féin has received millions

I would like to speak.

It is very unfair.