Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have some questions about the methodologies used. I would like to think that it was worth the fight to get rent pressure zones, RPZ, extended beyond the initial zones and into the neighbouring zones. That was a hard-fought fight and was well worth doing at the end of the day. Within that, and within my own constituency in Wicklow, we are seeing anomalies arising almost immediately with the methodology that is used. I will use Greystones as one example. Rental increases in Greystones probably began in 2013 and peaked in late 2014, and have not hit that 7% over a full period of inflation over the last six periods, so it rules itself out, yet Greystones and the Kilcoole area have probably the highest rental prices in Wicklow, comparable with most of Dublin. Even this morning the cheapest two-bedroom apartment available in Greystones was €1,500.