Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister asks his party colleague from the Kildare North constituency about his experience of people raising the issues in the rental sector in Maynooth - I assume they are not all coming to me - he will confirm that the reality in the town is as I have described. The new arrangements are having the effect I would have predicted. The process used to select specific areas is flawed. My party argued that rent increases should be linked to the consumer price index. Under section 139 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, landlords are supposed to give notification of rent increases. There is no evidence that this is being universally done. In fact, a reply I received from the RTB suggested that updates are not provided in many cases. As Maynooth is a university town, large cohorts of renters come on stream in particular cycles. The Maynooth electoral area is quite large and has a significant rural hinterland and this has an impact on the profile of the town for these purposes. I am sure this is also the case in other areas.

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