Landlord TDs should remove themselves from vote on Rent Reductions Bill, says Murphy

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy called on landlord TDs in the Dail today to recuse themselves from the vote on the Rent Reductions Bill.

He said in his statement that “no TD who is a landlord or who owns a rental property should be voting on this bill.

“That includes one in five of the current Cabinet.

“Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Minister Stephen Donnelly and Minister Norma Foley.”

The Dáil code of conduct for TDs outlines that: “Members must base their conduct on a consideration of the public interest and are individually responsible for preventing conflicts of interest.”

“It’s obvious to any ordinary person that a conflict of interest exists if a landlord TD votes against this bill,” Deputy Murphy says.

“When this Bill was debated last year, it was defeated by only 14 votes. If the landlord TDs in the Dail had done the right thing and recused themselves, our Bill would have passed”.

“I call on all the landlord TDs in the Dail 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 people and their families”.

The landlord TDs named by Deputy Murphy in the Dail this morning, as listed in the register of member interests are: Brian Leddin (Green Party), Michael Creed (Fine Gael), Paul Kehoe (Fine Gael), John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael), Richard Bruton (Fine Gael), Sean Canney (Independent), Noel Grealish (Independent), Matt Shanahan (Independent), Alan Dillon (Fine Gael), Robert Troy (Fianna Fail), Michael Moynihan (Fianna Fail), Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail), Sean Haughey (Fianna Fail), James Lawless (Fianna Fail), Aindrias Moynihan (Fianna Fail), Brendan Smith (Fianna Fail), Michael Healy-Rae (Independent), Carol Nolan (Independent), Alan Kelly (Labour), Johnny Guirke (Sinn Fein), Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael), Stephen Donnelly (Fianna Fail), Norma Foley (Fianna Fail).