Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday I raised a constituent’s story with the Taoiseach. While searching for a rented home, my constituent was invited to participate in what he described as a bidding war. The landlord was asking prospective tenants to indicate how much they were willing to pay per month in rent. I am not suggesting that is representative of all landlords by any means but this shocking example is a consequence of a broken housing system, a housing disaster as our President recently described it. My offices and those of my Labour Party colleagues are inundated with people looking for help with housing who cannot afford to get a home, who are languishing on the housing list, people facing eviction and rent increases, older people who are very frustrated because their adult children in their 20s and 30s cannot afford to move out of the parental home. Yesterday during Leaders' Questions, the Taoiseach invited me to provide suggestions from the Opposition. I am happy to give some. Will the Government incorporate our renters’ rights Bill into Government legislation and will it adopt a rent-to-buy scheme?

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