Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Bacik for bringing this legislative measure forward. We are dealing with "renovictions". In that context, protections are needed for people who are losing their tenancies. I agree that the accidental landlords require a professionalising of the system so they are also protected where there are cases of good landlords and tenants with extra difficulties, etc. We also need to consider extra supports for the councils to deal with such situations.

Rent pressure zones have not worked. Linking rents to inflation as inflation goes from 3% and up is not going to cut the mustard. I am fed up talking in this House about rents in Dundalk, with people being very lucky to be able to get rent of €1,000 and others having to pay up to €1,800 per month. That is absolutely ridiculous and unsustainable. It is not going to be resolved until the supply issue is dealt with. It is as simple as that.

I am going to pursue something with the Minister of State and I expect him and his Department to revert to me on it. I am hearing about difficulties in Louth County Council that relate not only to income thresholds in respect of the housing list that need to be reviewed and increased but also the change in how assessments are dealt with, which is creating a greater level of difficulty for those carrying out the assessments and resulting in a huge number of people failing who previously would not. I will come back to the Minister of State with details in that regard. It is an absolute disaster. It is part of the poverty trap that we need to address if we are serious in any way.

Louth County Council has a massive amount of old stock. Dundalk has very old stock. We need a huge amount of money. There is insufficient money to deal with a proper programme of maintenance, particularly for windows and doors. The retrofit programme is welcome, but we are talking about less than 40 houses this year. Unless this is going to be ramped up over the next number of years, it will not cut the mustard. This is absolutely necessary.

I also refer to the planning process. We are dealing with the development plan at present and we must have a system that works. We need the Office of the Planning Regulator, the council and the Department to have real conversations and to deliver solutions that will provide supply. That is also accepting that the Government must step up to the mark. We need delivery of affordable housing, council housing, affordable mortgages and affordable rental.

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