Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The concerns I had, which were shared by most Deputies, were rising rents in the first instance. Members will have seen further evidence this week of rising rents in Dublin in particular but also throughout the country. Second, there were various stories about people in receipt of rent supplement who were unable to get suitable accommodation because as rents rose, landlords were more inclined to rent to those who had sustained and sustainable income than to those who would be the beneficiaries of rent supplement payments. It will be a while before the construction industry provides new rental accommodation to any great extent, even in Dublin. While it is to be hoped that a lot of activity will commence in the course of the year, there will be a time lapse before it is completed and rented. It was brought to my attention that there are 475,000 rental properties in the State, of which approximately 5,000 are bedsits in Dublin that cannot be rented due to new standards for rental accommodation that came into effect in February 2014. I am targeting in particular those rental properties to incentivise landlords. Effectively, the work is to refurbish but the main piece that prevents such units from being rented is the aforementioned regulation. I do not know whether the Deputy ever lived in one-----