The behaviour of landlord Marc Godart has been “absolutely horrendous”, the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien told the Dáil on Thursday.
Mr O’Brien said the secret surveillance of tenants should “never happen”. The Fianna Fáil TD was responding to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan on Thursday, who said he wanted to raise the issue of “rogue landlords”.
Mr O’Callaghan spoke of Salvador Chávez Morales, a computer engineer who was “left short of food and at risk of becoming homeless after he was evicted by landlord Marc Godart”.
As was reported by The Irish Times, the Social Democrats TD said Mr Morales had made a complaint about being recorded in his home by CCTV cameras and was evicted as a result.
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“Marc Godart is renting out 208 beds across 19 properties in Dublin city centre. There are 33 beds being rented out in one property alone on Cork Street,” Mr O’Callagan added.
“There have been multiple rulings against Godart by the Residential Tenancies Board [RTB]. There have been fire safety notices issued against multiple properties that he rents, damages owed to tenants who have been left unpaid. He is operating with complete and utter impunity.
“Apart from the properties he owns, he has no connection with Ireland at all. He has simply spotted the opportunity to exploit our lax regulation and very weak protections for renters.”
Mr O’Callaghan asked Mr O’Brien what he was going to do to stop “rogue landlords like Marc Godart from flouting the law and exploiting renters”.
In response, Mr O’Brien said it was “a horrendous case” and that there was a matter before the courts currently in relation to it.
“The landlord that you’ve mentioned in particular, from what I have read, certainly the behaviour there has been absolutely horrendous,” he said.
“The RTB have been heavily involved ... it’s a matter Dublin City Council have also been involved [in] as well and the matter is before the courts also.
“The secret surveillance of tenants is absolutely precluded, and it should not happen, it should never happen. The fact that a tenant makes a complaint and then is illegally evicted is outrageous, and this matter has been dealt with and is being dealt with by the RTB and is being dealt with by the courts.”
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