Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

On the question of a rent freeze, I note that the Minister has acknowledged in his contribution what he descries as a risk or danger that the credit, which is ostensibly being provided for the benefit of tenants, will end up in the pockets of the landlords. If the landlord believes the tenant has more money as a result of the budget, he or she may choose to hike the rent and he or she will be able to do so because the Government has failed to put in place a rent freeze.

The Minister has set out the countervailing argument in an attempt to tip the balance but it is not strong. He is ostensibly saying that there is only one way of organising a rent freeze but there is more than one way to do so. You can organise a rent freeze that is coupled with other policies that go against the logic and the diktat of the market. There were important steps forward taken in Berlin but the weakness was that it did not strike hard enough against the diktat of the market. For example, a landlord who, by virtue of a rent freeze, is denied what he or she sees as his or her right to hike up rent may want to withdraw from the market and invest elsewhere. You can ensure he or she is checkmated by saying that if a tenant is in situ, he or she cannot close the place down and the state takes it over. It is something that the Government has, under pressure, introduced here as an option for local authorities but it should be more than an option; it should be the rule that this is what needs to be done.

The other thing that can be done is for the State to become a landlord by rapidly investing in social and affordable housing to provide rental accommodation for those who are in need of it. That is something that has not been done quickly enough in Berlin. Let us not buy the argument, which I think is false, that there is only one way of organising a rent freeze. If you organise a rent freeze in a way that ensures that when landlords withdraw from the market the tenants remain in situ and the State becomes the landlord, and if the State invests in social housing at a sufficiently rapid pace, you can avoid any unintended consequence which strikes at the interests of tenants. It can be done but of course governments led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will not do it because it goes against the logic of the market. That is the basic issue here.