Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion on a three-year ban on rent increases for citizens, many of whom are barely hanging on, spending a disproportionate amount of their income on what is their home. People who are renting are living in homes, not properties. This motion is especially welcome and needed in this era of the vulture and the cuckoo, two forms of avian life that are avoiding the biodiversity devastation. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have made sure that these are a protected species to be indulged and guarded. They are allowed to swoop in and scoop up swathes of homes in the Mullen Park development in my home town of Maynooth in north Kildare, which many of my constituents had their hearts set on buying. This is a hostile act; a rage by corporate greed on the public and collective good that is housing.

Housing is not optional. For humans, it is a necessity and an essential need in their lives that should not be exploited. While some constituents cannot buy the homes in Mullen Park at this point in time, most will have the pleasure of renting them. This is not happening in Maynooth alone, but across the State. The Government's view is that it makes no difference to renters that their landlords are global investors, but it does. That view is also the difference between the Government and Sinn Féin. This is 2021. We did not swap one absentee landlord for another. We believe that a home that is rented is just that; a home for hard-working people and hard-working families. The Government believes a house that is rented is a market opportunity.

I welcome the ban on rent increases proposed in this motion by my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, as will renters. Renters in urban parts of north Kildare are doing very well to get a house to rent at below €2,000 per month. Renters will also welcome the proposed refundable tax credit, which will put a month's rent back in their pockets. They will particularly welcome the NCT-style certification of properties for rent to ensure they are up to standard because sub-standard rental properties are a real problem, exacerbated by the scarcity of houses to rent. Anything that gives renters dignity, security and some peace of mind is to be welcomed, but this security is only a small aspect of our housing conundrum that requires address and change and is most fundamental. I hope the Government will have a rethink and support this motion.

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