Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said the Department does not want to cause rent inflation, which is understandable, but rent inflation is already happening. A two-bed apartment in Dominick Street has gone from €1,000 a month to €1,400 a month in two and a half years. The reason for this is very simple, namely, there is a new problem in the private rental market. Given that the Government intends to be dependent on this going forward, it has to address the problem that much of the rental market is now controlled by a small number of players because NAMA and the banks have sold many of the apartments that are up for rent to investors, many from outside the country. The truth of the matter is that, unless the Government actively controls the private rental market in some way, this problem is not going to be solved, given that so few players have such control over a huge chunk of the private rental market in Dublin. Our private rental market is not regulated, although the market is regulated in many European countries, and this is something the Government will have to do.

See this speech in context