Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Just because the Deputy keeps saying it does not mean it is true. It is untrue and she should stop saying it in the interest of proper honesty in public debate.

Let us leave that to one side. The Deputy is also ignoring the fact this budget does deal with many thousands of people who rent, but maybe people on the housing assistance payment, HAP, or on the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, or people who get rent supplement do not matter to her. These are real renters in real homes whom the Government directly supports, namely, 65,000 tenants with HAP, 17,000 through RAS and 20,000 through rent supplement, with about €600 million provided to support renters in those situations.

The other key measure announced yesterday that will benefit renters is the tax relief from the indexation of income tax bands and credits. A total of 1.8 million working families will benefit from that tax package announced yesterday. The Deputy has opposed that and her party's finance spokesperson said yesterday that Sinn Féin is against that tax relief. It is a tax relief that will benefit renters. I have spoken to some renters, people in their mid-20s who are earning incomes in and around €35,000 or €40,000. People who earn below €35,000 will benefit also. They will get some relief from that tax relief. The Deputy not only ignores that but actually opposes it and thinks we should not have indexed the tax bands, which will give a modest relief to people who are renting and paying tax in that regard. For remote workers, there is further tax relief. Across the board within the budget, a variety of cost-of-living measures will, I hope, reduce costs in health, childcare and other areas to assist people and more, of course, needs to be done.

The most fundamental way to deal with the rental situation is to provide for supply of houses, and the Housing for All strategy does that in an unprecedented way through the interventions that will be taken and particularly through the cost-rental model. Next year, 1,500 homes will come on stream through the cost-rental model. That is a scheme the Minister has committed to and it will grow and be ramped up over time, which will see rents significantly below market level. The Minister has introduced five rental Acts to help deal with rent issues and to keep the pressure downwards in respect of rent. He introduced legislation to tie rents to the consumer price index. Unfortunately, inflation has increased in recent months, mainly through global issues arising from the impact of Covid, but the Minister is committed in the coming weeks to bring in a cap below the level of inflation to keep downward pressure on rents in order that they will not increase at the rate they would have previously. This will be lower, obviously, than what was provided for in rent pressure zones. The Minister has also been consistent and focused on improving the capacity of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, in respect of identifying landlords who breach rent caps and penalising them. He has provided additional resources in the budget in this regard, with €11 million given to the RTB for 2022 to help it carry out this work.

We have taken measures to ensure our resources are targeted at those who want to rent or buy houses at an affordable level. There is no guarantee that what Sinn Féin has suggested in its Opposition budget would give the results the party thinks it would in respect of tax relief for renters. The Commission on Taxation and Welfare has been consistent on that in previous times in ruling that out as a viable option.

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