Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill. The intention is that €1,500 would be put back into the pockets of renters every year through a tax break, which they badly need. It was ironic to hear the criticism of that earlier, given that the Government has given tax breaks for the past number of years to developers and every other sector in society, except to people who are trying to rent a home and keep things together.

The possibility of a rent freeze excites people throughout the country. Everybody lives in fear of the rent going up. That is the case not only in the metropolitan areas but also in rural Ireland. In the four counties of Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo and Roscommon rents have risen by between 6% and 7% in the last year. That is happening everywhere. In many regional towns one will pay €1,000 to rent a small three-bedroom house. People cannot afford that. Certainly, they cannot pay higher rents in a rural area as they must have transport to get to work and to be able to live their lives. This is having a huge impact on people in every part of the country.

The Minister and the Opposition have acknowledged that rents are too high. Everybody seems to be in agreement on that and everybody except the Government seems to be in agreement that a rent freeze is a good idea. That is the position this evening and it is an ironic situation in the mouth of an election. The Government is telling people in this State who are paying rents they cannot afford that they will have to continue doing so because the market says it must be that way. The reality is that the market created this crisis and looking to the market to solve it will not work. Everybody knows that. Fianna Fáil has come to that logical conclusion late in the day and I invite the Government to come to it now.

A firm hand of regulation must be put in place or else there will be a runaway situation. We have had it for a number of years. It is almost three and a half years since Sinn Féin first proposed a rent freeze. Since then people have been paying rents that have been going through the roof. The Government has stood over that. It is time for it to step up and acknowledge that it has been wrong. It must put up its hand and say, "We need to move on". It should accept this Bill, get it through before the Dáil dissolves and ensure that we give people something back and show them that the Government cares and is listening. All this talk about moving forward and that things are getting better and are not as bad as they were is nonsense. People can see that and I invite the Government to open its eyes and see it as well.

See this speech in context