Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I went on to daft.ie today and the cheapest rental property in Cork is €450 for a one-bed studio. One would need to earn €34,000 a year to afford this property. One is paying €200 a week to live in a box, because that is what it is, and to look at a washing machine and oven.

In another property, on the market for €900, the kitchen countertop doubles up as a bedside table.

The Minister referred to court cases in Berlin and how the Government cannot ban rent increases. Would Germans live in these hovels? Not a chance. The German Government would not allow it. Does the Minister know that two out of every three HAP properties that are assessed fail that assessment? These are the properties that people have to live in. The latest figures illustrate how unsafe, unsanitary and inhumane are the conditions in which people have to live because of the price of rent. If you go onto the Daft.ie website, you will see that a half-decent property costs €1,100. The HAP is €550, so you have to pay €550 plus your rent to the council. It is not affordable. The Minister stated that rents are coming under pressure. He must be in cuckoo land. Rents have been under pressure for the past five or six years.

To give an example, two years ago you could rent a three-bedroom property in a particular housing estate in Cork for €1,400. To rent the same property in that estate today will cost €1,800. The Government brought in rent pressure zones, stating rent increases would be limited to 4% per year. We know the rate of increase in Cork is at least 6.5%, if not 7%, so none of the measures brought in by the Minister, the Government or previous Governments supported by Fianna Fáil have worked.

I ask the Minister to stand up for renters for once and for all and to bring in the rent ban that Deputy Ó Broin is proposing. If the matter goes to court and the Government loses, at least it could say it did something. The facts are here. Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, rents will continue to rise. God forgive the Green Party for supporting them.

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