Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. Like her, I read the RED C poll. I am not sure about the validity or the truth or otherwise of those who were surveyed who said that they would very quickly give up their private investment in the rental sector. Why would they give it up? They say in a poll that they would but as we now know, rents were at their highest in 2007 when the artificial boom was in full flow. It is extraordinary that rents today are only 6% below what they were in 2007. Some landlords are exploiting the fact that the demand for rental property is outstripping supply by continuing to increase the rents until they reach the same level as those in 2007, the year when Irish rents peaked.

I return to a point I made previously. The Minister of State, her Department, the Government and us as Government supporters can take credit for dealing with homelessness and the programme for social housing, but we need take action on the private rental sector which is out of control. There is no control over it. Other European countries have controls but we have none. The problem is biggest in the capital and if we do not do something about it, it will become a landlord's paradise.

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