Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. That was a cop-out by the Taoiseach.

Last week's details of a so-called rental protection Bill suggested this would be a plan to stop the double rent hikes many tenants are facing in the next month, but the details of the plan fail to address the actual scale of the problem. Hundreds of thousands of tenants are living in fear of rent hikes of €150 or €200 per month but the Government's proposal will only protect a few hundred. Worse still, even for those few hundred, it kicks the can down the road to January and does not stop landlords imposing this year's rent hikes, and last year's, at that point in time by up to 12%. If one accepts an 8% rent increase is unaffordable then surely one can see the problem with a triple hike. As well as a wave of rent increases we are seeing a wave of evictions now the eviction ban is lifted. Over 1,000 households have been given an eviction notice in the past ten months. That will become a tsunami of evictions unless real action is taken. Will the Taoiseach take action to deal with this issue?

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