Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, in the rent pressure zones, rents can only increase year on year by between zero and 4%. We are going to change that now so that prices are linked to the harmonised index of consumer prices - inflation, essentially - and that will mean rent increases, depending on inflation, of probably no more than 0.7% or just above 1%, which is where inflation is running at the moment. I think that will be welcomed by most people who are renting. One thing we need to bear in mind, and it may not be popular to say it but it is the truth, is that the vast majority of people who are landlords - I am not one of them, by the way - are not investment funds or wealthy people. One person's rent is another person's mortgage. There are many people who own houses or apartments and the rent they receive for them barely covers their mortgages. For some people, that rental income is their pension and it is the only pension they have.

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