Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

The RTB rent index is the most reliable indicator for rent prices. It was published on 15 May and, according to the RTB, the standardised average rent for new tenancies rose nationally by 5.5% year-on-year to €1,680 in quarter 4 of 2024 while the rents for existing tenancies rose by 4.6% year-on-year to €1,440. These are high rents. We are under no illusions about that. Even if those figures represented a decline in rent levels from the previous quarter, quarter 3 of 2024, and continued the downward trend in the growth rate of rental levels observed since early 2023, of course, the rents are too high. The fundamental issue is supply. Deputy McDonald said she had never seen a Government like this. I have never seen an Opposition so bereft of ideas and so lacking in conviction of the housing issue. That is the bottom line.

See this speech in context