Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is more bad news today for renters as the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, calculator reflects that rent inflation now stands at 4.3%. This is at a time when rents are extortionate and at a time when many younger people will now weigh up their options and decide whether to stay or to go once the Covid restrictions lift. It is a disgrace the Government did not show up for renters. There was nothing in the budget for them. We told the Government when it linked rents to inflation that it was too little too late. We asked the Government, and I ask again, for a ban on rent increases for the three years and to put a month's rent back in renters' pockets by way of a tax credit. That is what is needed so people can have some chance to live a decent life here.

See this speech in context