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

I thank the Deputy. Regarding the mica issue he mentioned, I have not seen that report, so I cannot confirm whether what is being reported is correct. I can state the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, thanked the members of the working group at yesterday's meeting for its involvement and engagement in the process in recent months. He acknowledged, in particular, the stress and hardship faced by affected homeowners and ensured them enhancements would be made to the scheme. The working group is going to submit its final report to the Minister today, 30 September 2021. The Minister, along with the Taoiseach, me, and the Ministers, Deputies Ryan, Donohoe and McGrath, with input from the Attorney General, will then consider the proposals with a view to them being presented to Cabinet. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, intends to bring a memorandum to Cabinet in the coming week.

Turning to the Deputy's earlier comments, what I believe is what I say and what he said is not what I believe. A classic tactic of populist politicians is to claim their opponents believe something and then argue with it, to put words into somebody's mouth and then criticise them for it. It is a classic tactic of a populist politician. I want put on the record that that is what Sinn Féin is engaging in as a party. Its members tell people what they believe and think, and then they tell them how awful they are. That is rubbish, it is rubbish politics, and it is something the party engages in all the time.

Regarding rents, they are too high in Ireland. That is my view and the Government's. High rents have an impact on people's finances, on the standard of living they can have, on their well-being and on the labour market. High rents make it harder to get staff and push up labour costs, and that has a general impact on the economy. For that reason, the Government has introduced a rent freeze in real terms. That means people will not see rent increases greater than the rate of inflation. It was the policy of Sinn Féin, before the party decided it was against it. The policy has now been introduced. It means people will see much lower rent increases in the year to come and, it is hoped, no rent increases at all.

The crisis we face in the rental market is not just one of affordability; it is also one of availability. We need to make sure we do not end up in a situation whereby fewer properties are available for people to rent. We have seen an exodus of landlords and property owners from the rental market. Essentially, they are selling up and issuing people with notices to quit. That is not good either. Therefore, we must ensure that whatever we do deals with the affordability issue, which is the cost of rent, and the availability issue. The Deputy will have seen plenty of examples of 50 to 200 people queuing up just to see one rental property. We do not want to make the availability issue worse. We must bear that in mind in any decision we make.

What can we do about it? Cost rental is a big part of the Housing for All strategy. I refer to the Government investing in that model and providing homes for people to rent. Those who do not qualify for social housing do qualify for cost rental. The first units are now available. The roll-out will ramp up considerably in the next few years. It is an important intervention by the Government in the rental market. The Land Development Agency, LDA, a State developer, has also now been established. It is building properties for people to rent and to buy and for social housing. A major ramp-up is being witnessed in the level of social housing being provided by the Government. Only 600 such units were provided in 2016 and 6,000 units in the year before the pandemic, but that is going to rise to 9,000 or 10,000 units. How does that help? It provides housing for people on the social housing list, and that frees up properties for other people to rent or to buy.

Those are the interventions that the Government is undertaking: a rent freeze in real terms, linking rents to inflation, cost rental, the Government providing more rental properties for people to rent, the LDA increasing supply and, crucially, a social housing programme, the biggest in the history of the State, which will ensure we free up properties for people to rent or to buy.

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