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

-----to a rent freeze. Notwithstanding the constitutional issues that may make that impossible, even if it was possible, there is a real concern about the unintended consequences of a rent freeze. What we may see happening in the event of a rent freeze is less supply. Ultimately, those who need to rent need to find somewhere to rent. While a rent freeze might work for people who are renting already because their rent would not rise, it might cause less new supply. People who need to rent for the first time, the young people the Deputy mentioned, people who have to leave the home they have been renting for some reason, people who lose the home that they owned, people coming in from other countries could really suffer in the event of a rent freeze. We have seen in other countries where they have introduced rent freezes that this has happened. It is protecting people who are renting already-----

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