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

The Government's decision to lift the eviction ban is going to cause thousands of people to face the terrifying prospect of homelessness. That is particularly the case because of the abysmal failure of the Government to control rent increases. Over the past ten years, rents on average have risen by 82%, while in Europe rents in the same period have only gone up by 18% because they have rent controls in most of Europe. The Government boasts that it has built record numbers of houses and so on, but look at the cost of the rents. In my area, €2,500 to €3,000 and over €3,000 are the average rents for newly built properties. That means €36,000 a year for the landlord. That is what tenants have to pay of their after-tax income, meaning 100% of the average worker's after-tax income is being charged. The Government does nothing to control it. We are saying we need rent controls, which are commonplace in the rest of Europe, to actually set rents and reduce them to levels that are an affordable proportion of people's income. The Government says we do not come up with solutions. Here is a solution; here is legislation. We also believe landlords should not be allowed vote on this legislation.

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