Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister well knows, people of all ages are struggling to pay their rent. I regularly have people come to me - friends, family, neighbours etc. - who are struggling or unable to pay their rents. These are people my age who may be looking to start a family and who have to move back to the family home because they simply cannot pay their rent or, if they can, they certainly are not able to save for a mortgage to be able to move out of their rented, shared, overcrowded accommodation.

However, it is not only my age group that is suffering like this. I am becoming increasingly aware of older people hitting their pension age or already in their pension age who find it increasingly difficult to pay their rent, who are increasingly concerned their rent will increase and that they will no longer be able to pay it and who do not know what alternative they will have if that happens. These people will have either to move in with their children or to go looking for alternative accommodation, knowing that in the likes of Galway city, where I am from, that accommodation will be very hard found and, if it is found, will be at an extremely high price. Galway city has extortionate rents, which is not often mentioned when a lot of the conversation is about Dublin.

However, this is no longer only a city-based issue. We have seen increasingly along our coastal regions that people over the lockdowns, when they were able to work from home, moved back home or moved to more rural areas and to areas along the coastlines. We have seen huge increases in that regard. I have seen increasingly people come to me saying they can no longer rent in the area they have long lived in in rural or coastal communities because these increases are just continuing and they are no longer able to afford them. At this stage the rental crisis is affecting so many different age groups, people and communities.

What people now need, and what they have needed for a very long time and can wait for no longer, is urgent action by the Government in this regard. What we clearly need is a ban on rent increases. We have been saying that for a very long time, and the Government really needs to act in that regard. Reference was made earlier to the legislation that pegged rent increases to inflation. The Minister himself has often said he was aware inflation would rise. It is just unfortunate the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, did not seem to realise that would happen. That was clearly a massive mistake by the Government. The reality is these kinds of mistakes hurt people and make their lives more difficult.

This amendment seeks just a report. I do not see any reason the Government cannot accept it. The report would examine the social and economic impact of these measures. We know that what has been happening up to now is not working so we need the Government to do something urgently that will work to protect and help renters. The Government could certainly look at doing a report to help renters, who are struggling so much.

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