Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

Of course they can; they are doing it every day. How many evictions took place last year? There were thousands and thousands of evictions. They can evict a tenant through the sale of the property to a family member. Landlords are already on the radio saying that they are leaving properties vacant for two years so they can charge the market rent. They now know that next March, they will be able to charge the market rent full stop. That is what the Government is allowing them to do.

Regarding the idea that the Government is introducing protections for renters, half of all renters will not get these protections because they are in properties owned by landlords who own fewer than three properties. Make no mistake about it - anyone who has lived in the private rental sector in this country knows this means that landlords will be able to turn to tenants and say "the rent is increasing and if you don't accept it, we will evict you or if we can't evict you directly, we won't do the maintenance". It will force renters out so they can charge the market rents. These measures will reduce the one protection renters had. This is a policy shift back to institutional investor funds. It is about making build-to-rent corporate landlords central to housing policy and renters will face evictions. We will see more homelessness as a result of these policies.

The no-fault eviction ban should be for every renter and it should be implemented immediately. We need a register for rents and a freeze on rents for three years. The Government has been lobbied very heavily by institutional investors and landlords; that is so clear. The records are there. The lobbying register shows it. The Government has bent to those lobbyists instead of protecting renters. Renters are already struggling - they are in poverty and they cannot afford food, basics and healthcare. Families are going into homelessness as a result of this and what the Government has done today has made matters worse. It will lead to rising rents. When will rents be high enough? Is it when they are €4,000 or €5,000 per month? At what point will the Government say we need to freeze rents? When will rents fall? These policies will not lead to rents falling. We are disgusted with this policy and will fight it as much as we can.

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