Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Areas that are seeing significant rent inflation are likely to come in under the zoning. I would have to get the data for Limerick, which has been published, but my understanding is that parts of Limerick are close to being designated. I take Deputy Bríd Smith's point about areas that are contiguous to rent pressure zones. There may be spillover in terms of landlords feeling that perhaps they are next and that they, therefore, need to put rents up. There are laws in place, however, that prevent them doing that outside of certain parameters. If landlords carry out a rent review and seek to increase the rent, they must get reference rents from similar properties in the area. If tenants are not happy, they can go to the Residential Tenancies Board for a determination of what is fair. This is why we have the Residential Tenancies Act, which was introduced by my predecessor.

Rent pressure zones were quite a blunt tool. To zone areas and limit rent increases in those areas by law had never been done by an Irish Government before. We will review its effectiveness in the summer and will try to take other issues into account. It is important that we provide certainty to the market as well and not give the impression that we will dramatically change direction.

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