Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The report of the Residential Tenancies Board shows the annual increase in rents since the RTB started keeping records in 2007. With this Government in power, records get broken regularly but none of them are positive. If it is not the highest number of people in emergency accommodation, it is the highest number of homeless children, the highest number of people being treated on trolleys in hospitals, especially my local hospital, University Hospital Limerick, or the highest rent increase ever recorded by the RTB.

Those on the Government benches sit there with straight faces and tell us that they are doing a good job. If they come to my constituency office or the constituency offices of the three other TDs from Limerick they will hear the same stories. I sometimes wonder if they live in a parallel universe where they do not understand what is actually going on.

Today there were 13 properties available in Limerick on daft.ie. There is a one-bedroom apartment in Perry Square for €1,800 a month. There is a one-bedroom apartment in Barrington Street for €2,000 a month. I am not sure who is supposed to be able to afford those. There is a two-bedroom apartment for €2,100. They were the cheapest properties available today.

There are things we can do and the Minister of State has failed to do them. He could and should introduce a ban on rent increases for existing and new tenancies. He could and should put a full month's rent back into every private renter's pocket. There is an opportunity to stand up for renters by supporting our motion and acting on the calls outlined in it. The Minister of State could choose to stand with renters but I suspect that once more he will do nothing to aid them.

Rent incomes are at an all-time high. Homelessness has remained steadily high. I understand for instance there is no place for people to go in Limerick tonight. I have said this in the Dáil before.

Housing targets for social and affordable homes have been missed three years in a row. Limerick's annual rent increase at 11.2% is a staggering figure. How are renters expected to pay their month and try to save for a mortgage so that they might own their own home one day. For most, it is an ambition that cannot be achieved.

As I said on a number of occasions, we have a number of challenges coming down the road. We have people approaching their 60s who have been renting privately for many years. What are they going to do when they retire? They will not be able to afford the rent unless we sort something out. As we said when the Government ended the no-fault eviction ban, where are those people supposed to go, because in Limerick there is nowhere for them to go.

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