Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his offer and intend to take him up on it. I take his point on rent inflation. We propose a 5% increase in the rent cap in order to alleviate what is a desperate situation. I am not in favour of hundreds of millions of euro of taxpayers' money going into the pockets of private landlords. I abhor it and it is grossly wasteful; however, we are faced with a crisis. The Minister of State mentioned the figures, but we are only scratching the surface. More than 90,000 people are in need of social housing and the number is increasing. Has any consideration been given to extending the flexibility cap to cases under the HAP scheme? Recently I heard the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, refer to his intention to recommend to the Government the introduction of some form of rent control. What is the status of that proposal?

See this speech in context