Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt that supply is a problem. However, price is also a problem. Rent supplement has been reduced, while rents are increasing. I know many people in Wexford who have been obliged to make up the shortfall which has resulted from this. In Dublin, rents are going through the roof. There is a good reason for this. Huge numbers of apartments - including a number I developed - have been sold, en blocas opposed to individually, for less than half the amount that it would cost to build them today. An individual customer who buys an apartment or a house is obliged to pay market value. However, speculators have bought blocks of properties for half the market value. As a result, an increasing number of rental properties are in the hands of fewer people. This has led to the development of a cartel in the rental market. Due to the fact that they own so many rental properties, speculators can dictate the price.

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