Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I believe the real solution to this is increased supply. That is the real focus of the approach that the Government has been taking. It is about real supply coming from social housing. For the first time, we have committed to 47,000 new builds of social housing after a period in which there was virtually no social housing constructed, which created huge imbalances in the marketplace.

We also have to get private sector building going as well. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has created a whole range of initiatives to move that along using council and publicly-owned land to open up new opportunities for affordable housing, starter homes and social housing. That work is in progress. I believe it is encouraging to see in the reports that the Minister has published this week on the progress that has been made that there is a very strong growth in, for example, housing starts, which is an early indicator of the success of the strategy he is pursuing. We will have to see that materialise in completions in due course but I believe there are strong indications that we are seeing a revival of activity in the sector.

The Minister has recognised that there are pressures in the rental market as a result of that lack of supply. That is why he has introduced for a period a cap on rents. That cap provides that there can be only a 4% increase in rents. It also provides that there is a restriction on those who have not had increases for a number of years. Landlords cannot leapfrog rents to increase them in big amounts. Those caps are just coming into force now. We look forward to seeing the rental figures in the future impacted by those decisions. In terms of extending that to other areas, the Minister has indicated that there is an approach to extending it. It will be based on an analysis of the actual marketplace situation in each location. The Minister is fully open to looking at new areas.

As of the date he produced the order in December, Dublin and Cork clearly met that criteria but there is a further group coming up behind those cities, and I have no doubt other areas will be subjected to such caps also if that is established.

See this speech in context