Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Caithfidh an tuairisc a tháinig amach ón mBord um Thionóntachtaí Cónaithe an tseachtain seo caite a bheith mar phointe ag a n-amharcann an Rialtas ar cad é atá ag tarlú ó thaobh iad sin atá ag díol cíosa sa Stát seo. Chímid ó na figiúirí a tháinig amach go bhfuil cíosanna ag dul suas 12% in aghaidh na bliana. Is é sin an ráta is airde a chonaic muid ó thosaigh an bord seo ag déanamh tuairisce ar arduithe cíosa 15 bliain ó shin.

Walking to the Chamber, I was thinking that, surely to God, the penny must drop somewhere in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and some Minister somewhere or at least some backbencher will say, "For God's sake, something has to change." We have listened to the Minister. We hear the Minister get up and make his speech, and all the guff that comes from him, that the Government is doing this and that, and it is doing all of this. Then we get the RTB figures. They come out and say what is happening and the Minister is laughing away. Twelve per cent increases are the highest ever record increase in new rents in the State. It is a new record set by this Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government. It means, for ordinary renters who are already fleeced, they have to find more money to pay for an existing tenancy. It is not just those new renters; it is those in existing rents. Here in this city, where there is supposed to be a cap of 2%, rents have increased by 5% for existing tenants. In my own county, in Donegal, rents have increased by more than 12%. They have increased by 14%.

What does this boil down to? Since this Government took office, across the State you now have to find an additional €3,800 to pay for a new rent. In Dublin, the price of this Government in office is an extra €4,700 and yet the Government simply does not get it. Why does it not get it? We know that this is not a Government for renters. We know that this Government's priorities are in terms of landlords but this needs to be a point in time where the Government wakes up and recognises that ordinary renters can take no more.

Sinn Féin is calling for the Minister to ban rent increases for the next three years, to ensure that renters have at least one month's rent back into their pockets and to put forward a programme that has been put forward by Deputy Ó Broin for years now calling for real investment in social, affordable and cost-rental housing to increase supply to meet the demand that is out there. Will the Minister listen? I doubt it.

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