Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct that the latest RTB data was published in the past 24 hours. The report on rents paints a much more nuanced picture than the headline. The Government is aware that quarterly trends are volatile and that because rents continue to increase, we face a considerable challenge. People are paying what we consider to be too much rent. Rents need to be controlled. Rents for existing tenants are in line with the RPZs but rents for new tenancies and leases tend to be higher. One in five tenancies are now for longer than four years, which is welcome, and one in four new tenancies agreed in the past number of quarters was for more than 12 months, which shows a sign of stability for tenants. That said, there is still a tremendous way to go. We propose to introduce a rent register that will show comparable rents in areas, which will be published and in place before the end of the year, because we know people renting continue to face a challenge. It is because of the challenges in this area that the Government proposes to introduce a new rent protection measure into the Dáil in the next number of weeks and to pursue measures to provide for longer leases and tenant protections when properties are sold by landlords regardless of the reasons put forward for that sale. Home-sharing by organisations such as Airbnb will be tackled in the next number of weeks. It is because of all of these challenges, of which Government is well aware, that all of these actions will be taken in the next couple of weeks, on top of all of the actions taken over the past number of years.

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