Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is in an invidious position in having to defend the indefensible when the Minister is not about when this dirty deed needs to be done. Let us be absolutely clear. We all agree that we need to deliver on affordable, cost-rental and council housing. However, the fact is that at this point in time we are dealing with a disgrace of a rental market that is in an abysmal condition. Unless we accept that, we are going nowhere. I accept the Minister of State is trying to deal with some of the individual issues, including deposit retention, which have been put to him. As commendable as that is, we need to accept that we are dealing with a basket case of a situation that needs to be addressed.

In County Louth, for example, the average rent for new tenancies is €1,295. That is a 14.7% year-on-year increase. The average rent for existing tenancies is €1,131, which is an increase of 4.1%. Let us consider the motion. Standardised average new rents in Dublin have increased by €4,716, and by €3,816 State-wide since the Government was formed. The RTB report showed new rent increases of 11.6%, which is the highest annual increase since RTB records started in 2007. I am not entirely sure where we are going. I could probably ream out a whole pile more of statistics. It is all well and good giving out about daft.iebut if you are in Dundalk, or anywhere else at this point, that is what you are looking at.

We heard the figures for Louth. There are 13 properties available in Dundalk, and 18 in Dundalk and the surrounding areas. It costs €2,500 per month for one four-bedroom house. Another four-bedroom house is also €2,500 a month. I do not have the time to go through the list. Let us just say the rents are considerably more than they were. None of it is working and none of it will work until we get a three-year stall on rent increases and until we put money back properly into people's pockets.

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