Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The crucial point is that the clock is ticking and that this was entirely foreseeable. In fact, I was not the only Deputy on the Opposition benches to say when the legislation was brought forward in May that this was likely to happen. If the Minister brings forward such a measure, it will get the support of the Opposition and, therefore, I urge him to bring it forward at the earliest possible opportunity. Of course, the worry is that a renter can currently face a rent increase of 3% if the landlord abides by the rules. We have seen from the recent Daft.ie and Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, reports that the overall level of rental inflation in quarter 2 was significantly above the 4% rent pressure zone cap. It is possible that, notwithstanding the link to the harmonised index, there could be general rental inflation above that level. We will find out whether that has been the case when we get the data from those two organisations for quarters 3 and 4. I hope we do not experience rental inflation at that level but, again, I am urging the Minister to be attuned to that because what we are also seeing now, as he is aware, is that due to Covid and people relocating, there are greater levels of rental inflation in areas where that had not traditionally been the case. The sooner he can bring forward this measure, the better.

See this speech in context