Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I said earlier, the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 provided that rent increases were not permitted to take place during an emergency period from August 2020 to 10 January 2021 for tenants with rent arrears due to Covid who were at risk of losing their tenancies and who made the necessary declaration. The Government made legislative provision to protect tenants during the emergency period. Clearly, the legal capacity to institute a blanket freeze on rents outside of the emergency period is limited by the Constitution. Those are the facts. Having said that, the Minister is going to amend the legislation brought in which allowed for the 4% increases with a view to security of tenure and to the rate. He is going to bring in legislation quickly to deal with the 8% increase with regard to those who are most vulnerable and most at risk. He will respond in that manner.

Again, Government does not represent landlords. I certainly do not and I have no interest in doing so. I do, however, believe that we need an adequate supply. I have seen nothing from the Deputy which contributes to the supply issue. That is a key point in improving the overall housing situation. We did approximately 20,000 houses last year. Covid-19 impacted on construction. We need more affordable housing and affordable rents. We need more cost-rental accommodation. The Minister is providing for the first ever national cost-rental scheme this year. We are providing new schemes of State-built affordable housing so that people who are currently paying rents that exceed what they would pay as a mortgage payment will be able to afford to buy housing. I know that is what people are paying. I know many renters, by the way. I want to change the current situation. It is not acceptable and we are setting about changing it.

As we come out of the first global pandemic in 100 years, we are going to focus 100% on the issue of housing. That is a clear objective of Government. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have sought to protect renters from eviction and excessive rent increases. We brought in legislation to protect renters in that regard. The earlier legislation the Deputy referred to which allowed for increases of 4% per annum in the rent pressure zones is the law. The Minister is committed to changing that law. I fully accept that rents are too high for many people but it is equally important that we give people the opportunity to buy houses and to access more social housing. That is why we have put in place the largest ever social housing programme for the next five years.

See this speech in context