Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Doherty very much for raising this issue. The report to which the Deputy refers from the RTB is just the second such report it has published. It is the rent index report. It is good to have definitive data from the RTB in relation to rents associated with actual tenancies. That gives us some very valuable information as a Government and Oireachtas in terms of the policy framework and the decisions that we make on an ongoing basis.

On the point of the RPZs, this report is very clear. The Deputy will know that the report itself is not a barometer of compliance with the RPZ legislation, because it captures all tenancies. Tenancies that are outside of the RPZ restrictions across the country are also accounted for within this report, so it was never designed to be a measure of that.

However, what it does show is that rent levels for the existing tenancies are approximately 18% below rent levels for new tenancies. Existing tenancies that are being renewed on an ongoing basis represent the bulk of the market. In this particular report, approximately 47,000 existing tenancies are captured that were renewed in the third quarter of last year compared to 14,000 new tenancies that were registered within the data set. Therefore, the vast bulk of the tenancies that are recorded here as part of this report represent the renewal of existing tenancies. That shows a much lower level of increase in the actual level of rent for those existing tenancies that are being renewed. Again, I repeat that this is not a report that is measuring the effectiveness of the RPZ legislation. That is very clear when you read the report itself.

On the question of compliance with the RPZ legislation, that is a statutory function of the RTB and they are active in that regard. There have been, if you look through their website, approximately 160 sanctions over the last number of years and approximately 80% of those relate to breaches of the RPZ rules. Where breaches are taking place, that should be reported to the RTB, which will carry out its enforcement work in the normal way.

Fundamentally, rents are continuing to rise because there is a mismatch between supply and demand. That is the reality. Yet, when you look at the activity rate, we are now unquestionably making very significant progress. There is real momentum in home building across the country. Some 32,700 homes were built last year. That was a 10% improvement on 2022 and it was well ahead of the Housing for All target.

Let us look at the construction commencements that took place last year. Last year, there were approximately 32,800 new homes where construction commenced. This figure is up 22% on the number of commencements in 2022. There was a particularly strong finish to last year; there were almost 9,000 commencements in the fourth quarter of last year. This figure was up by approximately 50% compared with the same quarter in 2022.

I refer to the Deputy’s question and proposal to freeze rents for a number of years. When I look at the data, of the 32,700 homes that were built last year, there were more than 11,600 apartments, most of which are for the rental sector. That funding is primarily private capital. The State is playing a role, but much of it is private capital and institutional capital. I have no doubt that if we were to adopt Sinn Féin’s policy, it would impact the supply of new homes, in particular, the supply of rental accommodation across the country, and most particularly here in the city of Dublin where those apartments and that supply is most acutely needed.

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