Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As a Deputy for Dublin West, I want to talk about the rent pressure zones and particularly the adjacent areas. I have discussed this with the Minister on a number of occasions. I am really disappointed that he has shut his eyes to addressing this particular difficulty. Anyone who knows anything about rents in big towns and cities and their adjacent neighbourhoods knows that the rent pressures are severe in the cities, but are just as severe in the adjacent counties, particularly Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. It seems perverse not to recognise this, particularly in the context in which, for quite a few people and families, the two-year rent freeze initiated by the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, is starting to come to an end.

To be honest, despite the Minister's good intentions, what he is actually doing is sending out an advice notice to landlords who are in the adjacent areas, and not as yet subject to restriction, to go ahead and increase the rent. I gave the example of a property in Clonee before. It is a very small two-bed apartment in a nice estate less than half a mile outside the Dublin boundary for which the rent is currently €850 a month. When the two-year freeze ends in a couple of months' time, the landlord has already indicated that the rent is going up to €1,200 a month. That is almost a 30% increase. For the Minister to turn his face against this reality is deeply disappointing. Many of the young couples renting in this scenario are also the people who are trying to save to buy.

This may be where the confusion lies. In recent interviews, the Minister has consistently confused a 4% return on rent for landlords with a 4% rent increase. There is no way one can actually stand over - in any logical way - a 4% annual rent increase that, when compounded, is going to come to about 12.5%. Essentially, the Minister is putting landlords on notice today that if they have the opportunity, they should seize it and go for a rent increase. It is a scandal to allow a 4% rent increase when the CPI is a fraction of that. It does not just send a certain message to landlords, it also says to motor insurers and health insurers that the Government will allow consumers of products to be fleeced and that when it comes to rent increases, fortune favours the bold who go after the maximum level of increase instead of - as with all the amendments, including that tabled by the Labour Party - tying the increase to the CPI.

The additional volatility that will be introduced to the market is going to give rise to a problem in the context of tenure. We could almost go back to Michael Davitt's time and look for a reasonable length of tenure, especially for people with children who are integrated and attending local schools. If they have to move from one suburb of Dublin to another on the far side of the city, they have to change schools. When people buy a house or are have the resources to rent privately, and if they move location, that is their choice. If people have to move location based entirely on rent pressures, it is really an extra burden on young families and very difficult for children who, over a period, are forced to settle into new schools. These families can do that with planning - and can do it in a very positive way - but there are now quite a number of families who cannot get rented properties in their existing locations due of the lack of tenure. This is not really addressed in the legislation. With regard to the changes, we have an àla cartemenu which is going to do serious damage to quite a number of people.

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