Dáil debates

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Rent Freeze (Fair Rent) Bill 2019: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

9:15 pm

Photo of Imelda MunsterImelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every single day of every single week in almost every constituency clinic the length and breadth of this country, there is one issue that one can guarantee will be to the fore. That issue is the housing crisis, and the fallout from it, and it is being raised by people who have been on the housing list for over a decade, those who have been put to the pin of their collars paying extortionate rents and individuals who have been served with notices to quit. I do not know if the Minister has ever sat across a table from someone who has been served with a notice to quit because one can see straight away that blind panic has set in. This panic stems from the very real fear of becoming homeless because there is nowhere to rent and there is certainly nowhere they can afford to rent. People are also paying huge rents for substandard accommodation. When they complain to their landlords, be it about damp throughout the house and their children developing coughs and asthma or about the heating not working in the depths of winter, some will just turn around and say "Oh, I was thinking of selling it anyway". I have heard this numerous times. Why are they saying that? It is to put the fear of God into people in order to get them to stop complaining. It is a case of put up or shut up. That is what they are saying and that is happening on a regular basis.

The average monthly rent in Louth is €1,236. In Meath, it is €1,334. Rents have increased by 3.6% in the past year in both counties. Rents in Louth and Meath have more than doubled since their lowest point. Rents have increased by over 100% in both Louth and Meath. If that does not indicate a crisis, I do not know what does.

At what point will the Minister call a halt to this? How much misery do people have to endure before he will take responsibility and deal with the situation? A rent freeze would help to alleviate the financial misery people are in. It would work and can work. All it takes is the political will and the ideology. How much more does the Minister want people to suffer before he does something?

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