Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There was an announcement by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage that there are going to be changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 in order to replace rent pressure zones and the 4% limit with a review based on the consumer price index. Does the Tánaiste agree this is not good enough given the already unsustainable rents people are paying? In the rent pressure zones, we have seen 20% increases over the past four years, with people paying €2,000, €2,500 and €3,000 a month, which is completely unaffordable. Is it not time to ensure that no further rent increases are allowed? I remind the Tánaiste that we already have backdated, suspended rent reviews from the Covid period. Do we not need to institute a complete rent freeze for the foreseeable future and bring in rent controls that will set rents at affordable levels? By the way, from what I can see, the proposed amendments will do nothing for the setting of new rents on build-to-rent apartments and so on-----

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