Debate contribution: New Deal for Private Renters in Northern Ireland
Debate contribution by Mr Colm Gildernew on .
- MLA
- Mr Colm Gildernew
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 24 February 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- New Deal for Private Renters in Northern Ireland
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4813968
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I start by thanking Members for tabling the motion, and by saying that I own a private property from which I gain a rental income. Sinn Féin believes that housing is a human right. Everyone in our society, no matter what age or background they come from, should have access to a decent and affordable home of their own. A home is not just a roof over someone's head; it is fundamental to the well-being of every person in our society. Yet, we still have many people who do not have access to a decent, affordable home of their own that meets their needs. The motion focuses on the private rental sector. I will address some of the substance of the motion in a moment, but, from the outset, it is important to recognise that we are simply not building enough homes. As we all know, house prices are driven upwards by a lack of housing supply, so foremost in our concerns, if we want to support renters, should be the aim of building more homes. We have a draft housing supply strategy that sets an ambitious target of 100,000 new homes over the next 15 years. That is the scale of what is needed if we are to make any meaningful impact in tackling the housing crisis. Whilst we have a target to aim for, we also need the investment to match it. Unfortunately, we have not seen adequate investment in housing for many long years. The draft Programme for Government outlines the Executive' s commitment to deliver more social and affordable homes, and we now need to see a significant increase in investment so that we can deliver on that. I turn to the substance of the motion, which is about supporting renters. Much of it aligns, I have to say, with Sinn Féin policy. We agree that rents have become unaffordable for many people, and we have supported measures to bring rents under control in the Six Counties and in the Twenty-six Counties. In particular, I point to the sterling work carried out by my party colleague Deirdre Hargey, who implemented a rent freeze during her time as Minister for all those in Housing Executive properties. She also introduced the Private Tenancies Bill in 2022, which extended the notice to quit period to eight weeks and banned unfair rent increases. Deirdre recognised that there was more work to be done to protect renters, and the Private Tenancies Act 2022 was but the first stage of a journey to see even greater protections being put in place in the future. Sinn Féin supports a ban on no-fault evictions. I am sure that many Members have had constituents in their offices seeking advice after a landlord has decided to evict them from their home without any good reason. No-fault evictions create huge stress and uncertainty for the affected party and often force families into homelessness. Many jurisdictions have taken steps to ban no-fault evictions, including Germany, New Zealand and the Scandinavian countries; indeed, my party colleague Eoin Ó Broin introduced a Bill in the Dáil calling for a ban to be introduced in the South. I thank the SDLP for its amendment, which calls for legislation to extend the statutory threatened with homelessness period beyond the current 28 days. That provides me with a brilliant opportunity to advise the House that I am working on a private Member's Bill that would do exactly that. I hope to have that Bill out for consultation in a matter of weeks. I am happy to work with everyone in the Chamber who is interested in that area and that issue to ensure that the Bill can be progressed. Also, my party colleague Ciara Ferguson is consulting on a private Member's Bill that would protect renters by introducing a ban on unfair letting fees. I encourage as many people as possible to respond to that consultation and ask that Members do likewise. I will leave my remarks there.
665 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.95).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.95 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-qualifying threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.80 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.07 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.07 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.02 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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