There is much confusion around the private rented sector and what will happen next in terms of legislation. The Minister with responsibility for housing has said that a Bill will be published this Friday. What exactly is the plan for renters and what will be in the legislation that is to be published on Friday? There is a need for certainty. As I said, there has been much confusion.

The Minister has announced that there will be an extension but equally there is a need for primary legislation to deal with this issue. The existing legislative base is not solid and could be open to attack and challenges subsequently. We have to get this right. The new law will prevent the eviction of tenants unable to pay their rent due to the impact of Covid-19. It protects them on a statutory footing and it is focused on the vulnerable in our society. It also gives a stronger role to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, in regard to supporting tenants and in other areas. It is needed because the existing statutory instrument is not a sound, solid basis for the continuation of what is currently in place.

The Government chose not to extend the ban on rent increases and evictions for at least another three months for fear of a court challenge from landlords. This is a Government of gutless wonders. Does the Taoiseach not think it would have been better to extend the ban and prepare to face down any court challenge by arguing that such bans are clearly and demonstrably in the public interest in the context of a dangerous virus abroad within our society?

The programme for Government, on page 60, commits to improving the security of renters. Will the Taoiseach agree that in bending the knee so cravenly to the landlord lobby this Government has badly let down the hundreds of thousands of people who rent in this country it promised to protect?

The promised legislation protects renters. That is the purpose of it. It will do so far more effectively over the long term than the current statutory instrument. We are not caving in to anybody. We do not want to go into the courts and lose. The advice is clear. The current statutory instrument is not legally sustainable.

Fine legal minds dispute that.

The Government has to act legally. Governments cannot act illegally. It is easy for the Deputy and other Opposition Deputies to proclaim that we should act illegally. Governments cannot act illegally because if we do so, we expose workers in terms of the compensation that would have to be paid, rights and so on. We do not want that. We want to protect renters. We want to protect people from becoming homeless. We want to protect people from being evicted. The legislation gives us-----

The Government is bowing to the needs of landlords.

-----a stronger primary legislative foundation to do that. That is the objective.