Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We have just received another report about new rents going up by 9%.

That is on top of rents that have effectively doubled in recent years. They are going out of control. We need measures to address that, including rent controls, because that leads directly to people being homeless. The VAT reductions the Government has provided are pathetic, given the increased energy costs people are facing, particularly people with disabilities, single mothers, the vulnerable, the sick and so on who are disproportionately impacted, as well as low-paid workers. The Government's measures are nowhere near what is necessary. People's pay is effectively being slashed as we speak. We need increases in pay and income.

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