Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and thank Deputy Ó Broin for bringing it forward. We have a rental market in Ireland that is neither normal nor bearable. In County Meath, rent costs are exorbitant. On daft.iethis morning it is €1,800 for a two-bedroom apartment in Ashbourne and Ratoath, €1,700 in Dunboyne and €1,600 in Dunshaughlin. It is less expensive in towns like Kells and Duleek but of course, like Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunboyne and Dunshaughlin, there is little or no availability. It is an incredible statement of fact to say that a person could rent more cheaply in Sydney, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Oslo or Helsinki – places where one would be assured of the very best public services, including public transport, childcare and healthcare – or in almost any capital city in the world. The Irish rental crisis is an indictment of Government thinking, it is an indictment of Government policy and it is an indictment of Government priorities. Rent pressure zones are supposed to limit rent increases to 4% a year. In County Meath, they increased 5.7% last year, year-on-year and by over 6% in the last two quarters. The housing assistance payment, HAP, itself a massive transfer of wealth from the State to private landlords, is not the answer. In County Meath €24.8 million was paid out in HAP last year, up 16%.

The proposals in this motion would serve to stop renters and the prospect of ever increasing rents being used as a bargaining chip in a big money game. It would ban rent increases and put a month’s rent back in people’s pockets. It would protect renters in a dysfunctional system. It would protect renters while issues of supply were addressed. Covid or no Covid, every day I deal with individuals and families who are homeless or who are at risk of homelessness. These are individuals and families, many with school going kids, dealing with council homelessness officers who can do no more and must apologise and tell them they cannot afford to live in this area, that there is nothing more officials can do for them, that there is no other support and that they will need to uproot their whole world and move to some place they have no connection to, know no-one and have no support. That is devastating. It is shameful and is a direct result of decisions made by successive Governments. The rental crisis can be fixed. The Minister should rethink his position on this motion and support it.

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