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

I start by quoting from James Geoghegan, the Fine Gael by-election candidate in Dublin Bay South. On 28 May he released a press statement which stated, "I am alarmed by the revelation today that tenants in the rental accommodation sector could potentially face a double rent increase of 8% when measures providing for a temporary ban on evictions and a rent freeze that were implemented during Covid-19 are due to end in July." Of course, he did not mention that his Government is responsible for the legal situation where the 8% increase is proposed. He also did not mention that the revelation came from People Before Profit.

He said: "However, the Minister must resolve this loophole as a matter of urgency and ensure that renters do not face a double increase when the emergency legislation is lifted in July,". The Minister has not resolved this situation. He has resolved the situation for 500 of the hundreds of thousands of private rented tenants in this country. Those 500 renters will be able to avoid the 8% increase now, but they face a rent increase of up to 12% next January. The remaining hundreds of thousands of people may continue to face an 8% rent increase and the Government and the Minister are doing nothing about it. One month ago, I raised this matter with the Taoiseach on Leaders' Question, when I gave a number of real world examples, including Jane who lives in an ordinary house in Tallaght whose rent is set to increase by €160, an almost 8% increase, to more than €2,000 per month, Philip in Islandbridge who faces an more than €100 increase per month, an increase of 7.7% and Samantha in Dún Laoghaire who is facing a 10% increase. In response, during Leaders' Questions, the Taoiseach said:

He [referring to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, who has not left the House] 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, the Taoiseach and the Government have not delivered on what they committed to do. Under pressure, they accepted that there is a crisis and we had a Fine Gael by-election candidate all of a sudden expressing concern about the treatment of renters. We then had the Government saying it will do something about it, but what it has done is a pretence in that it affects only 500 people. The Government is leaving renters at the mercy of landlords who are only interested in maximising their returns. The result will be an increasing tsunami of homelessness from now until the end of the year. That is very much definitely on the Government.

Why does the Government act in such a way? It is no accident. It is because in this State we have government by landlord for landlords. One in three Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Deputies are landlords and those who are not landlords nonetheless represent the landlord class in this country effectively. The policies are always designed to incentivise their investment in the sector, to maximise their return and to provide for landlords to impose an 8% increase in rent, or 12% next year, guaranteeing them increases of 4% year-on-year. If an increase is deferred in any particular year, it can be added to the increase for the following year. We have pro-landlord policies consistently. When the Opposition calls for a rent freeze, or better than a rent freeze, rent controls, to bring rents down to affordable levels, the Government says it cannot do that because it is unconstitutional. We need to kick this Government out. Those who are lucky enough to be in the Dublin Bay South constituency should take the opportunity to vote for the renters' candidate, the People Before Profit candidate, Brigid Purcell, and in so doing send a signal to Sinn Féin and others that we do not want any parties that are going to bring Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael into power through the back door in a coalition. We need a left wing government that will stand up to the big corporate landlords and the developers and take the side of ordinary working-class people and renters.

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