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

I want rent controls. The Government is not going to do that. I think the Minister of State should but he has set his face against it. We need public and affordable housing to replace HAP but, in the meantime, there is a problem. In Dún Laoghaire today, three one-bedroom units are available for €1,895, €1,507, and €1,900 per month, respectively. The rents for two-bedroom units are in excess of €2,000, €2,500 and €3,000. The one-bedroom unit maximum homeless HAP rate is €1,350, which is well below the highest priced one-bedroom unit. It is a similar picture all the way. If someone is told that he or she must go out to find a HAP tenancy, it is an exercise in despair and futility because they do not exist and, therefore, something has to be done to bridge the gap. If the Government will not bring in rent controls, it must raise the HAP rates to the rates rents are actually pitched at.

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