Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister but it is very disappointing that he is still saying the discussions are ongoing. He has not indicated what he has in mind to tackle this out of control rental market. Many people on rent supplement end up homeless as a result of landlords putting up rents because they can get more money on the private market. We have to stem that flow and control the increases in some way, maybe through the consumer price index because not only are 5,000 people on the waiting list for homes but 80 new families a month are joining it. Many of them have come off rent supplement and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, as a result of these increases. The solution is to build more social housing but Fianna Fáil in government started this ball rolling, relying on the private rental market. I am glad we are trying to get back to building more social housing because that will keep the rents down. However, we need emergency measures now to deal with this. The Minister does not seem to be making progress with his Fine Gael colleagues. It is very worrying that they have a vested interest in protecting a particular group.

There is also a major crisis in student accommodation because the rent has gone beyond the reach of many students. I recently spoke to a person who had a good job but could not afford private rents because they are so high. Even in other countries they have not reached these levels. There are 130,000 families on the housing waiting list, nearly double the number there were in 2008. It is scandalous.

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