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

We have to be very careful about our approach in this regard. One of my predecessors gave a signal to the market that he was going to do something about rents. It did not happen but during, I suppose, what one might call the period of dithering, rents increased quite dramatically to the detriment of tenants. What we have are rent pressure zones that were brought in under legislation. We cannot take an "almost there" approach; we have to follow the law as it is drafted. Rent pressure zones are still new in the scheme of things but have been shown to work in those areas where they are being implemented for existing tenancies. We have to be very careful of all the data we receive from the RTB, including the data that tell us we are losing landlords. Since 2015, we have lost over 1,500 landlords. Some of them own more than one property, which means even more tenancies than that have been affected. In everything we do, we have to make sure we are protecting the tenant as best we can. We are not protecting a tenant if we are bringing in measures that are forcing landlords out of the market. That would be making the situation worse.

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