179. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department is taking to assist elderly and disabled tenants such as a person (details supplied) to find suitable accommodation following the Government's new rental legislation that caused a spike in eviction notices in Q1 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48298/26]

The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2026 regulate the landlord-tenant relationship in the residential rental sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Acts protect tenants and landlords of all ages, with or without a disability.

The Acts apply to every dwelling that is the subject of a tenancy, subject to a limited number of exceptions. Dwellings covered by the Acts include the private rental sector, the cost rental sector, the approved housing body sector and student specific accommodation.

Significant legislative changes have been introduced over the past number of years to enhance security of tenure for all tenants. From 6 July 2022, the Residential Tenancies Acts have been amended to further enhance tenancy protections, including by providing for tenancies of unlimited duration (after 6 months under tenancy without a valid notice of termination having been served) and the extension of termination notice periods where there has been no breach of obligations.

The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 came into operation on 1 March 2026. The reform of the rental sector provides stronger protections for tenants and encourages investment in the sector through updated rent controls.

In order to provide greater security of tenure for tenants, the Act provides stronger tenant protections by significantly restricting “no fault evictions” for new tenancies. The existing provision for tenancies of unlimited duration is strengthened by the incorporation of rolling 6 year tenancies of minimum duration.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2026, which apply equally to people of all ages, with or without a disability, individual tenancy agreements may provide for many different arrangements/lease provisions in place. Such contract terms are separate to the legal provisions of the Residential Tenancies Acts and are a private contractual matter between the parties. However, such terms cannot be less favourable to the tenant than the protections under the Residential Tenancies Acts. The RTB dispute resolution service is available to all tenants, and a landlord who registered a tenancy with the RTB may also refer a dispute for resolution.

Furthermore, The Equal Status Acts 2000-2018, which fall under the remit of the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, prohibit discrimination in the provision of accommodation on any of the 10 grounds set out below, subject to some exemptions. The grounds on which discrimination is outlawed by the Equal Status Acts are: gender ground; civil status ground; family status; sexual orientation; religion; age; disability; race; membership of the Traveller community and housing assistance.

Further information with regard to redress where discrimination occurs is available on the website of the Workplace Relations Commission - www.workplacerelations.ie

The Government’s housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, includes measures which will increase delivery of housing for older people through increased delivery of social housing, increased delivery of more suitable homes and choice in private housing and increased choice to support voluntary rightsizing.

My Department jointly published the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People (NHSDP) 2022-2027 and Implementation Plan with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Disability, and Equality. The Strategy and Implementation Plan may be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/60d76-national-housing-strategy-for-disabled-people-2022-2027/. The Implementation Plan sets out the actions to achieve the vision of the joint Strategy for delivering housing and related supports for disabled people to 2027 operating under Delivering Homes, Building Communities, which aims to deliver 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable housing supports by the end of 2030.