Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I support the premise of the Bill. The idea that people are paying 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, and sometimes 70%, of their income on rent is incredible. There needs to be a tight relationship between the income people earn and the rent they pay for accommodation. This proportion is way out of whack in terms of people's ability to live. The Bill seeks to reduce rents by limiting them to a maximum of a quarter of the monthly income of a household. That would be a fair level across society in terms of what people should be paying and it is not the case now.

Rents are on average €250 per month higher than they were at the peak of the Celtic tiger era. That is an incredible legacy and record for the Minister of State and his political party to have. What that does is it radically reduces the spending power of the families for a generation. Money going towards paying rent is money that is taken away from other elements of those families' lives. We in Aontú have been calling for a rent cap for a long time as an emergency measure to make sure that rents do not increase further. The Government has pushed back over and over again on the idea of a rent cap. Any measures it has brought in allow for continuous rent increases to happen, even in RPZs, which is also wrong.

In my county, Meath County Council provide a discretionary fund for people who are homeless so that they can get emergency accommodation. What is happening is that landlords see this discretionary fund as a cheque and are looking to increase the charges for those rooms and houses so that they can gouge the council for the rental of those rooms for individuals who need emergency accommodation, which is wrong.

In times of crisis, protections need to be put in place so that the average citizen and those most exposed are protected. However, the Government is not treating this housing crisis as a time of crisis. It is not treating it as a national emergency. In all the aspects of Government housing provision regarding vacant homes, Airbnb and REITs, the Government is allowing business as usual to continue in the housing market. We have to get to a situation where it is understood that homes are considered to be shelter for families, yet the major element of Government policy is to allow homes to be speculative investments. That is what is wrong at the core of Government policy.

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