Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is too early to say. I have seen data from the RTB and we also ran the numbers. For a while now, the committee has been calling for a review of the qualifying criteria. I have been engaged with the RTB on various pieces of work in that regard. Each scenario threw up different results. I wanted to come up with a change that was simple and would not confuse people such that both the landlord and tenant would know their rights. This is the one we chose. I do not have information with me on the likelihood of new areas qualifying but once Dublin is taken out of the equation, given how far ahead rent in the capital is, other areas start to come into RPZ designation quite quickly. I do not have information on the numbers or the areas to hand. I would not like to speculate on them.