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

We are not. I have one minute and 30 seconds.

The Government says it is not possible to anything about all of this and yet, Berlin did it. Berlin brought in rent-cap legislation in 2020 to do precisely what we are looking to do, which is not to allow rents go above levels that are affordable. It was brought in throughout Germany in 2020. In Paris, it was brought it in 2018. If there is a tense situation, we can introduce extraordinary rent controls, but the Government will not do it. We have declared an emergency, but the Government still will not do it. No matter how much human misery there is, the Government will not do it. It is not possible.

Then, as Deputy Paul Murphy said, we hear the real reason. The landlords would not like it. They would flood out of the market. If the landlords cannot deliver rents that are affordable, they should not be landlords. If they exit the market, as Deputy Murphy said, they cannot take the houses and apartments with them. The local authorities should step in and buy them. One of the reasons we have the highest levels of rents is that we have the lowest levels of social housing. We have 9% social housing in Ireland, against 25% in Austria and 19% in Denmark. We would get a lot of extra social housing if all the landlords exited and the State just went in and bought the houses and charged affordable rents. There is no problem. In fact, it would bring down the excessive rents and house prices in the market. The Government does not want to do it because it is only representing the landlords and vulture funds.

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