Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First of all, no decisions have yet been made on the budget, either on the tax or welfare packages - but there will be tax and welfare packages - or the general spending package. Those decisions are still being discussed at Government level. A proposal will be put to Cabinet on budget day and then subsequently to the House. That is the procedure and the process that we follow.

What the Deputy and I agree on is that rents in Ireland are too high. What do we do about it? The rent pressure zones are in place. We see from the research now the difference that has made. Existing tenants, for several years now, have seen increases of between 0% and 2% or 4%, and incomes rising at the same or higher rate. We see huge investment in social housing because more social housing for more people means fewer people having to rent in the rental market, and less need for the housing assistance payment, HAP. We have cost rental, a new form of housing in Ireland, for the very first time. It was initiated by the former Minister, former Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and is very much being delivered now by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. That is there for people who do not qualify for social housing but can now get affordable rent. We are going to need a lot more of that in the years and decades to come. We also have the rent credit in the budget, which helped people with their rental costs. As part of our budget considerations we will have to see whether we can increase that or not.

Deputy O'Callaghan mentioned the census, and it is absolutely fair for him to use figures as he chooses. All politicians will be a little bit selective in the figures they use. I am going to be selective too.

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