Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

Three times now the Taoiseach has been asked effectively the same question. I am going to ask it again. It is not clear to me if the Taoiseach does not understand his Government's proposal, he is misleading the House about his Government's proposal or the press statement issued by the Minister, Deputy Browne's Department is inaccurate. The Taoiseach needs to clarify for us which it is, because not just once or twice but about five or six times now he has said existing tenants will be capped at 2%, new tenancies will be capped at CPI and that these are the strongest set of rent protection measures we have ever had. The truth is, if the press statement is accurate, that the Government is absolutely gutting the rent pressure zones. It gets its nice headlines that say rent pressure zones are to extended to the whole country in a significant expansion of tenants' rights when in reality it is getting rid of the rent pressure zones. I will read it for the third time today and very slowly for the Taoiseach: "All landlords will have the right to reset rent where the rent is below market at the end of each six-year tenancy". It is not just new landlords, not just big landlords, not just small landlords, but every single landlord. That means it affects existing tenants and new tenants. If the Minister could inform the Taoiseach what is going on here and what is in the policy, that would be very helpful.

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