James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

The number one solution to all these issues is the increased supply. That is why I am making decisions to bring certainty into the housing delivery market. Crucially, the decisions I have made are also about protecting tenants and bringing security of tenure into this State for the first time. There is an element of change happening in the number of small landlords and how they are leaving the market. We know from 2023 research that approximately 27% of small landlords said they intended to exit the market in the next five years, one way or the other. What I want from tenants - this is why I am changing the law - is to have security of tenure. We want to increase supply for people to make it harder for notices to quit to be served on tenants and to give them security of tenure and a long-term place to rent. However, we have to increase supply as well. These measures I am proposing do both. They strengthen the rights of tenants and give them greater security, but also give certainty to the market. We have to remember where we are coming from. We had temporary rent pressure zones. It was not clear when one area might come into a rent pressure zone or come back out of it. It did not cover the entirety of the country. We have moved now to a permanent situation in the rental market that strengthens tenants' rights and brings certainty to the market. This will allow us to get more investors into the markets and to have more properties, which in turn will drive down rental prices. We know that more supply drives down rental prices. When I think about renters, I do not just think about those who are renting; I also think about those who are at home and cannot get anywhere to rent even though they need somewhere to rent. The only way we are going to address that is by increasing supply.