Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

In that case, I stand corrected. A rent freeze would need to take place over a number of years, at the very least. The debate does not need to be about rents that rise at the rate of inflation or a rent freeze when a rent freeze is a no-brainer as a minimum policy. Regarding where the debate is, we saw how the Labour Party took a fair bit of flak from renters on its social media pages yesterday. They said a rent freeze does not go far enough. A rent freeze is not good enough. What we need are rent cuts. Rents are 20% above what they were before the crisis so the discussion must be about whether we implement a rent freeze or go beyond that with rent cuts. The case for rent cuts is powerful.

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