Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important motion. The Government has failed to grasp the scale of the housing and rental crisis and properly regulate spiralling rents. It has failed to provide affordable rental homes on a scale required across the country and has provided none at all in counties Laois and Offaly. Despite the Covid crisis, rents in Laois are up 3.4% in the past 12 months, with an average cost of €754 per month for a one-bedroom flat and €964 for a three-bedroom home. Offaly has seen an even sharper increase of 6.6%. Rents as steep as €1,200 are being demanded for a three-bedroom home in some parts of the constituency. Families are trapped in rental accommodation with spiralling rents and no security. A family of four cannot get on the council housing waiting list if the household income is more than €528 per week. A couple without children and an income of more than €504 is caught in the same position. At the same time, these people's income is too low to get a mortgage.

This situation is totally unsustainable. Sinn Féin wants to deliver solutions for the workers and families trapped in the middle and with no way out because of the policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The Government has no plan for the rental sector, but Sinn Féin does. We want to deal with the rental crisis, on the one hand, and, on the other, deliver long-term affordable and secure homes to buy and rent. In government, we would implement an emergency three-year ban on rent increases. In Laois-Offaly, only the Graigue, Portarlington, Portlaoise and Tullamore municipal districts fit into what are called district rent pressure zones. Even in those areas, there can be rent increases of 4.5% and some landlords have found ways of raising them even higher.

This is totally unsustainable and it needs to be halted. Working families need a solution. Sinn Féin in government would introduce a refundable tax credit of 8.5% per year for tenants in private rented accommodation to put a month's rent back in every renter's pocket. This would give some relief and take some pressure off renters while we build up our supply of affordable housing and cost-rental properties. The opportunities are there to do that. There is land in counties Offaly and Laois suitable for cost-rental housing and affordable-to-purchase homes. Our party would commit to delivering at least 4,000 affordable-to-purchase and cost-rental homes in 2022. There are currently no cost-rental schemes in either county, even though we have pushed for them, and no plans to provide them. That needs to change.

The central point is that solving the housing and rental crisis requires political will. We have produced a plan to reduce rents and deliver cost-rental and affordable-to-purchase homes. Such provision worked in the past. We need to get on track with this and get on with doing it.

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