Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt the rental sector in this country is facing a crisis. I strongly support the long overdue ban on rent increases. However, let us be clear: this crisis has not happened overnight. Under successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments, rents have soared exponentially over recent decades and there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failed housing policies have done nothing but dehumanise this issue, treating houses as an investment and as a way of making money rather than as actual homes for actual people.

There needs to be a serious shift in how this Government looks at housing. My office in Donegal is inundated with calls from constituents throughout the county in desperate search of affordable rent. They are part of generation rent who do not have the option to buy their own home and, as a result, have been forced into the rental sector. Similar to the rest of the country, rent in Donegal has skyrocketed, rising by over one third in just under seven years. In 2013, the average rent in the county was €432 per month. This has risen to €662. This might seem low in comparison with the extortionate rates here in Dublin but it is a significant hike, and the lack of available rentals and job opportunities in the county contribute to it. It is completely unacceptable and unsustainable to force people into the rental sector and then expect them to pay extremely high and continually rising rents. These people are being left with no options or opportunities, which is, sadly, reflected in the high level of hidden homelessness and the high level of emigration in the county and the country.

Furthermore, many Donegal families already facing the devastating mica crisis are now also be forced to face the rental crisis on top of that, as they have to rent a home while their own home is being done up. As if they did not have enough to deal with already, families affected by mica have had no choice but to leave their deteriorating houses to rent alternative accommodation until the issue is resolved.

Due to the Government's seeming reluctance to address this issue, it appears they will be forced to do so for a long time to come. These families have not been compensated for the rent they are forced to pay. How can we expect them to pay a mortgage on their crumbling house on top of the rent in the middle of a rental crisis?

The lack of action and urgency on this issue proves that, unfortunately, Donegal really is the forgotten county, and the Government has not bothered to take any steps to disprove this fact. These families have been failed time and again by the Government and they have been forced to endure hardship after hardship and crisis after crisis. It is only right that we recognise this and do all in our power to help to support them. It is time for the Government to stop creating problems for these people and to start finding solutions. I look forward to the Minister's proposals, conveniently on 31 July, as we go into the silly season of August and September. I hope the proposals will reflect that and will come forward on 31 July so that people will get some respite.

Covid-19 has only intensified the rent crisis and exposed the existing problems and inequalities in the private rental sector. The already problematic private rental sector, combined with Covid, has created a very worrying situation in Donegal and throughout the country. As Dr. Michael Byrne of UCD outlined, 44% of households working in the sectors of the economy most impacted by Covid were private tenants and almost a quarter of households in the private rental sector are at risk of poverty. Struggling families have had to face cuts to their income due to the pandemic as well as insecurity in their employment. Due to Covid-19, they have had to seek rental assistance to meet the already extortionate levels of rent even before having to consider whether the rent might increase. The very least we can do is assure them of some sort of stability in these extremely uncertain and unstable times.

Over the years, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have created a situation where it is not possible for people to own their own home, but yet they continue to make it almost impossible for them to rent. It is very unfair to force a generation into renting. If the Government is going to force people into this situation then rent should be regulated. At the very least, bans must be put in place so that already high rents cannot increase any further. We must stop viewing renters as a commodity and see them for who they are: real people and real families, people whom each of us is elected to represent. It is about time the Government started to do that.

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