Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I repeat that our primary goal is to protect tenants and ensure there is supply in the rental market. The Deputy appears to want the Government to run the private rental market entirely. He should acknowledge that this is a dramatic intervention. It has never been done previously. The goal is to protect tenants. There has never been this type of intervention to provide certainty for the people to whom the Deputy refers. The goal of this policy is to provide certainty to people who are renting. There are 150,000 people renting properties in Dublin and Cork and this is the beginning of a strategy to give them greater certainty. That will be continued with the work of the Residential Tenancies Board, the Housing Agency and local authorities. The goal is to provide certainty.

With regard to the examples the Deputy quoted, clearly the way to deal with that is to have greater supply. We must increase supply to deal with the housing situation. In the amendments on Report Stage, we are seeking to give greater certainty to people who rent. This has never been done before. It is the right thing to do, given the pressures in the rental market. We wish to move ahead today and finalise those amendments so we can provide that. Clearly, however, many other actions must be taken within the housing strategy to increase supply, and I have listed the range of areas the Minister is leading on to ensure a greater supply. The Deputy saw what was in the ESRI report yesterday. The report warned against inappropriate intervention because it would destroy supply. We have no wish to destroy supply for the very people of whom the Deputy speaks. We wish to ensure there is a constant and stable supply, and the actions the Minister is taking, after much consultation and discussion, will lead to that situation. We accept that we must take action, but it must be targeted and efficient and it must work. The Minister believes, having conducted a great deal of consultation very carefully with all of the stakeholders across the system, that this is the right approach so we can protect tenants and maintain the supply that is required for current and future renters.

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