Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I addressed this issue in my answers to previous questions. The daft.ie report published today does not cover the majority of people who are renting and who are protected by the rent pressure zones and face increases of 4% or less. While the Government has heard the suggestions put forward by Deputy Boyd Barrett and his colleagues, which would essentially involve the Government intervening in the market and setting rents at a certain level - presumably a much lower level than their current level - this would be counterproductive for the reasons I gave. It would result in a black market and people paying under-the-counter cash payments and key money to landlords to get around rent controls. It would also further dampen supply because fewer builders would build and fewer people would want to be landlords. For these reasons, the well-meaning proposals made by Deputy Boyd Barrett and his colleagues would make matters much worse for people who are renting.

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