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

A consultation on the winter initiative is under way. It will be published when it is ready and the sooner the better for obvious reasons. I do not have an exact date.

I will ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to come back to Deputy Lawless on his issue.

I was the person who introduced RPZs. It is really important to apply rent pressure zones on the basis of data and not on the basis of political pressure. I do not mean that in any kind of negative way in terms of the Deputy's question. The Residential Tenancies Board provides the recommendations which are purely driven by the data on rent inflation and how rents compare with the national average. That is what determines whether an area falls within a rent pressure zone. Approximately two thirds of rental properties are now in rent pressure zones. In a town like Monasterevin, if the numbers determine it, rent pressure zone status will be triggered.

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