Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Government underestimates the seriousness of this problem. We cannot just decide to wait and build houses at the slow rate referred to in the Government's housing strategy. According to the CSO, almost one third of people rent accommodation.

They are faced with rent increases of over 10% in Dublin in the past year. A recent report by the National Association of Building Co-operatives, NABCO, states that 23% of all tenants are afraid of losing their home. That is reflected in the calls that I get to my office, as I am sure other Members do, of tenants being bullied by landlords pushing them out in order to increase rents for others. The figures are worst for those on low incomes where 45% are afraid of losing their home. One third of tenants do not know whether they have a formal lease. Only 7% identify themselves as having a Part 4 tenancy.

Action is needed on this now. Action could be taken and central to that is rent controls. We do not need temporary rent controls in certain areas. We need rent controls, as exist in many other European and developed countries, to limit the profiteering that is going on at the expense of generally low-paid workers.

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