Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The allegations about NAMA definitely require a commission of investigation, but for now I want to raise my concern about the thousands of people who are homeless across the State, including 2,000 children living in emergency accommodation. These youngsters are growing up and spending their formative years in hotels, hostels and boarding houses. Thousands more are sleeping on settees in friends' houses, on their relatives' floors, in cars and in overcrowded conditions. Tens of thousands of these families are crippled by increasing rents and the constant fear for the future.

My office - I am sure that every Deputy has had this experience - deals with these issues every day. There are landlords who will not respond to a request for a viewing by a young mother with two children when they realise that she will be seeking housing assistance payment, HAP. A male in his late 30s is in a home in overcrowded conditions with a mother and two adult siblings because he cannot afford to rent. Another young male who has lived in private rented accommodation for five years has just been given notice to leave the premises, cannot find other accommodation and is threatened with homelessness. This situation is worsening day by day. Surely this is not acceptable.

The latest Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, rent index report, which was published last week, confirmed what we all knew, namely, that the cost of renting a home is continuing to spiral out of control. At the end of May, the average cost of renting a home in Dublin was almost €1,500 per month, which is more than it was at its highest point in 2007. Outside Dublin, rents are increasing at an even greater rate. In my constituency of Louth and east Meath and depending on to whom one listens, rents have increased by either 11% or 14%. All of the reports agree that these are the highest yearly increases in the State.

Families cannot afford to pay rent. This emergency is being compounded by the Government's failure to build social houses, which has created a significant shortage in housing supply and pushed more people into the private rented sector. Until now, the Government has set its face against rent certainty and refused to link rent increases to the consumer price index as many other states have done. Will the Taoiseach reflect on this issue, and particularly on the plight of the families involved? They need our support - we are here to legislate on their behalf - and the Taoiseach's support. The Dáil's Committee on Housing and Homelessness has received repeated calls for the introduction of rent certainty. Will the Government include a commitment to introducing rent certainty as part of its action plan on housing and will it commit to supporting the Sinn Féin Bill that will be before the Dáil this evening?

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