A PEOPLE BEFORE Profit TD has called for all landlords in the Dáil to abstain from voting on a bill to reduce rents later this evening.

During a debate on PBP’s bill to cut rents, Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy said that there was a conflict of interest for landlord TDs to vote against it and urged them to abstain on tonight’s vote.

“It is obvious to anybody watching this debate that a conflict of interest exists in the case of a landlord Deputy voting against this Bill. If the Bill is passed, it will impact directly on the economic self-interest of landlord Deputies who are charging extortionate rents,” Murphy said.

“I call on all landlord Deputies to do the right thing today and recuse themselves from voting on this Bill and from furthering their own economic and class interests at the expense of the renter class of ordinary working-class people and their families.

The bill itself aims to reduce rents by limiting them to “a maximum of a quarter of monthly household incomes”, alongside establishing a National Rent Authority to carry out this work.

While making the call, Murphy proceeded to list all 23 TDs who had declared a rental property or rental income, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister’s Stephen Donnelly and Norma Foley.

“The names of the landlord Deputies who should not vote on this Bill because they have a clear conflict of interest are as follows:  

“The Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar of Fine Gael; Deputy Leddin of the Green Party; Deputy Creed of Fine Gael; Deputy Kehoe of Fine Gael; Deputy Phelan of Fine Gael; Deputy Bruton of Fine Gael; Deputy Canney, Regional Independents; Deputy Grealish, Regional Independents; Deputy Shanahan, Independent; Deputy Dillon, Fine Gael; Deputy Troy, Fianna Fáil; Deputy Michael Moynihan, Fianna Fáil; Deputy Byrne, Fianna Fáil; Deputy Haughey, Fianna Fáil; Deputy Lawless, Fianna Fáil; Deputy Aindrias Moynihan, Fianna Fáil; Deputy Brendan Smith, Fianna Fáil; Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, Rural Independent; Deputy Nolan, Rural Independent; Deputy Kelly, the Labour Party; Deputy Guirke, Sinn Féin; Deputy Stephen Donnelly, Fianna Fáil; and Deputy Foley, Fianna Fáil.

“Those people should not participate in the vote tonight.  To do so is to engage in a conflict of interest,” Murphy concluded.

Following Murphy’s call, Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae sought clarification from Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, questioning whether or not retired teachers who are now TDs would have to declare their interest on votes surrounding teachers.

However, Ó Fearghaíl said that this was already covered through the annual disclosures of interest made by TDs.