Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I might cut my contribution to five minutes or thereabouts to facilitate other Members who wish to make contributions and who have been here all day. It is only fair we share the time. While everybody wants to support the Bill tabled by Sinn Féin, and the Labour Party also appreciates the opportunity to speak on the issue of housing, I am disappointed the Minister is no longer in the Chamber. We have, however, had some constructive engagement with him in the past, particularly on one of the housing strategies the Labour Party is trying to pursue, which is a rent-to-buy scheme. The Minister of State will appreciate that, particularly in high-rent areas, it is difficult for couples or individuals to rent and to save for a deposit at the same time. We were trying to reintroduce a previous scheme whereby an individual could, through the local authority, rent for three years, with all that rent going towards a deposit, and walk away from the scheme after three years if they so wished or put that towards a deposit and get on the property ladder, the idea being that one did not have to rent and save simultaneously. Many of these schemes were reasonably successful previous to the crash but were then discontinued. We want to work proactively with the Department and try to get some of these State-sponsored schemes up and running again to benefit people.

I will say this much about the Minister's response. I served in government for a particularly short period of 18 months, and one of the big lessons I learned there was that when Government says something is not possible, unconstitutional or not legal, all those barriers can be overcome if the matter is important enough. There are any number of things we were once told were not possible, potentially not legal or potentially unconstitutional, concerns which were all swept aside once the Covid crisis hit. I refer to rent freezes, eviction freezes and the nationalisation of health services.

I wish to outline how serious the situation is by referring to the Daft rental report for quarter 1 of 2020. It states that rents increased by 3.8% nationally year-on-year, which marks the lowest rate of inflation since late 2012. However, while rents fell nationwide by 2.1% between March and April of 2020 in the teeth of the Covid crisis, between their lowest point in the early 2010s and the peak of quarter 1 of 2020, they increased by between 52% in Connacht-Ulster and 107% in Dublin. As for rent-a-room trends in quarter 1 of 2020, in Dublin city centre, the average rent for a single bedroom was €715, an increase of 8.2% year-on-year. The average rent for a double bedroom in the city was €820, an increase of 4.6% year-on-year. In south-east Leinster, the average rent for a single bedroom was €389, an increase of 16.1% year-on-year. In Limerick city centre, the average rent for a single bedroom was €429, an increase of 16.3% year-on-year. In Waterford city centre, the average rent for a double bedroom was €399, an increase of 9.6% year-on-year. In Galway city centre the average rent for a double bedroom was €1,260, an increase of 19.7% year-on-year. According to the Daft housing report of July 2020, the average national rent was €1,412. The average rent in Dublin was €2,030 in July 2020. Monthly rents were on average 0.5% lower in Dublin but higher than March levels elsewhere. Rent has increased in Laois by 4% year-on-year and is now at an average of €1,002. Rent has increased in Longford by 3.3% year-on-year to €737 on average. Rent has increased in Kilkenny by 4.2% year-on-year to €999 on average. Rent has increased in Limerick county by 3.4% to €925 on average. In Longford, the monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment has increased by 8% year-on-year to €556 on average. In Carlow, the monthly rent for a one-bed apartment has increased by 9% year-on-year to €724 on average. I will give just one more example because I know that other Deputies wish to make contributions. In Dublin 24, the average monthly rent for a one-bed apartment increased by 5% year-on-year to €1,425.

The point I am trying to make is that people in opposition are genuinely trying to find solutions and coming into this Chamber from a good place. I challenge the Minister's contention that when legislation is put in front of him, people are playing games, are not serious or are not dealing with crisis situations facing families and individuals day by day. When answers come that refer to constitutionality or legality, I do not necessarily take them at face value because of my experience. With a bit of imagination and the same sort of energy and belief we all came together with at the beginning of the Covid crisis, we could overcome a significant number of issues. With that in mind, I would like the Minister of State in his contribution to refer to the rent-to-buy scheme the Labour Party is trying to pursue.

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