Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. She asked it earlier in the week and I addressed it then but, to repeat what I said at the time, what the daft.iereport tells us is what we already know, that is that rents are increasing. However we in Government actually rely on the reporting of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, because it relies on a greater data set which is based on rents agreed rather than rents sought. In its report from the fourth quarter of last year we saw that the increase in rents in areas where the rent pressure zones, RPZs, have been in place, which are in Dublin, was down to just above 3% between 2017 and 2016. Therefore, the rent pressure zones are working in those areas. There is more we can do to strengthen the Residential Tenancies Board. That is why legislation to strengthen the RTB is coming, and coming quite quickly, to the Dáil, to be passed with the agreement of the Oireachtas as quickly as possible. A review of the rent pressure zones has also been conducted. It has been completed and I hope to share it with the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government ahead of meeting with it on Thursday of next week.

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