Interview
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The Eagle Interviews Ivana Bacik TD: Renters’ Rights, SPUC v Grogan and More By Jacob Hudson, SF Law and Political Science
It was a pleasure to interview Deputy Ivana Bacik for this edition of The Eagle. Having won the recent Dublin Bay South by-election with a convincing 30.2 per cent of the vote, the Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College is now Leinster House’s newest TD. As a former President of the Trinity Student Union, Bacik was threatened with prison in the infamous SPUC v Grogan case in the Supreme Court. Since then, the Labour TD has become an active and vocal civil rights campaigner and indeed, a leading figure in the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment. From 2007 until her election to the Dáil, Bacik sat on the Trinity panel of the Seanad, serving as the Upper House’s Deputy Leader in the coalition government of 2011-2016. During this time, she has introduced many pieces of legislation on areas including workers rights, LGBTQ equality and climate action. Ivana, yourself and Senator Rebecca Moynihan have recently introduced the Residential Tenancies (Tenants’ Right) Bill 2021, or the “Renters Rights Bill” to the Dáil, unopposed by the Government. Can you talk us through the substance of the Bill? I was delighted the Government did not oppose the Renters’ Rights Bill that Rebecca Moynihan and I had brought forward. It has now passed the second stage of the Dáil, which is great! We’ll certainly be pushing for further progress on it. So, essentially what the Bill would do if it became law would be three things: First, it provides for greater security of tenure. So, it provides for tenancy of indefinite duration. In other words, people cannot be evicted easily. That there are restrictions on the reasons which a landlord must give for bringing a tenancy to an end. So, that’s the first thing. The second thing is that it would ensure that rents are more affordable - rents and deposits - as it would place caps on deposits, and as part of our programme, we are proposing a three year rent freeze as well. And then, finally, and perhaps, just as importantly, the Bill would provide for a better quality of life for renters. So, in other words, give people the right to rent an unfurnished apartment or home, if they wish, which is absolutely the norm in other European countries but isn’t perhaps in Ireland. This is one of the reasons why people often find it difficult to put down roots or make a permanent or long-term home in rented accommodation, because they have to live with the furniture the landlord has left there. So, it’s that sort of thing - the right to keep pets and air dry clothes. These are all the sort of provisions that we have included in the Bill. You have been in the Dáil now for just a few months, but have you noticed any major differences between being a member of the Dáil and Seanad? Yes, well, I have only been here, in the Dáil, less than three months so it’s certainly all very new! I’m learning all the new procedures as I go and of course, the bells are ringing now for the Dáil business [a reference to the
