John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to speak today on this very important Bill. The two-month extension to the operation of all existing RPZs, and the deeming of all remaining areas of the country to become RPZs from the day after the passing of this Bill until 28 February 2026, are critical to quickly protect all tenants from high rent increases in anticipation of the broader changes announced last week and planned to take effect next March.

As the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, outlined, the new policy measures from March aim to boost investment in the supply of homes while protecting renters. The Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost-rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures including rental. This is demonstrated by the record level of investment being provided for the delivery of housing in 2025, with overall capital funding now available of almost €6.8 billion. This provision includes the additional capital funding for 2025, which was recently agreed by the Government, namely, €450 million to support the delivery of 3,000 additional social, affordable and cost-rental homes in the period 2025 to 2027 and €265 million to allow for a significant programme of acquisitions in 2025 for priority categories of need. The capital provision for 2025 is supplemented by a further €1.65 billion in current funding to address housing need. Increasing the supply of new homes is key to addressing many of the challenges in the housing market. The Government is committed to delivering more homes, more quickly, for more people to build on the increases we see in the quarter 1 delivery figures so far this year. The new programme for Government aims to ramp up supply further and deliver 300,000 new homes between now and the end of 2030.

The Government continues to review and modernise the planning system and has prioritised the implementation of the Planning and Development Act 2024 to support increased supply across all tenures of housing. This is a key priority of mine as Minister of State with responsibility for planning. This Act represents the most comprehensive review of planning since 2000 and will reform and streamline the planning process, reducing delays in housing and strategic infrastructure projects. The urban development zone, or UDZ, process under Part 22 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 aims to provide for an updated and more flexible approach to the planning and delivery of areas with significant potential for large-scale development and the associated necessary infrastructure. This element has been commenced by the Minister, Deputy Browne, and will be an important part of the variation process which local authorities will undertake shortly.

Given that there are a significant number of planning permissions for housing that are due to expire shortly, the Government is now bringing forward the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025 to deal with expiring permissions and to encourage activation of housing. This will allow holders of permission for housing development with less than two years left on the permission and have not yet commenced to apply for an extension of up to three years. The Bill will also allow for the provisions of section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 to retrospectively apply to permissions that have already been through the judicial review process or are currently in judicial review and are subsequently permitted. In other words, this will allow for the duration of the judicial review period to not be counted as part of the effective life of the planning permission, avoiding a situation whereby in the past, planning permissions have expired due to delays caused by the judicial review process. This legislation, which we expect to have passed by the summer recess, could protect permissions for upwards of 20,000 housing units from expiry. The Government wants to see shovels in the ground and homes built, and I am sure the Opposition will agree with that. Developers will need to step up and benefit from the extensions that we are bringing forward in this respect.

Returning to the Bill, the upcoming changes to rent controls and tenancy protection feed into a broader suite of measures to bring on housing supply. In return and to balance that, there have to be protections for tenants in that respect. We expect to see progress on this through both Houses of the Oireachtas this week. I certainly hope the officials' briefing to the joint Oireachtas committee, which I understand took place yesterday, was helpful.

Given the potential risk of high rent increases for tenants outside of RPZs who have not had their rent reviewed in the last 24 months, the intention is to seek the early signing of this Bill into law by the President. It is important for all tenants to be protected as soon as possible under the current rent increase restrictions applying in RPZ areas. This Bill provides the necessary protections for all tenants from the day after the passing of this legislation until 28 February 2026. Currently, 17% of tenancies are located outside RPZ areas.

Introducing stronger protections for tenants will not work without a concerted effort in enforcement. The Programme for Government: Securing Ireland's Future, published on 23 January 2025, commits to continuing Government support for renters and landlords. This includes measures to protect renters and landlords from abusive practices by enhancing the enforcement powers of the Residential Tenancies Board. As highlighted in the RTB director’s quarterly update for the first quarter of 2025, the RTB’s ongoing compliance and enforcement campaign is focusing significant resources on several in-depth investigations into serious, deliberate and repeated breaches of rental law. The ongoing RPZ compliance campaign, launched by the RTB last October following the publication of the inaugural property level analysis, has targeted 16,052 tenancies where rent increased by more than 2%. As a result, €70,911 in overpaid rent has been returned to tenants following 114 compliance interventions. This is positive news for tenants and sends out a clear message that those who deliberately breach RPZ legislation will be challenged. Last month, 36 sanctions were published, resulting in €102,490 in monetary sanctions being issued for serious breaches of rental law, and 105 formal RTB investigations are under way.

I will briefly outline the provisions of this Bill, which contains five sections. Sections 1 and 5 contain standard provisions. Section 1 defines the "Principal Act" to mean the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. Section 5 provides for the Short Title, commencement, collective citation and construction of the Bill.

Section 2 amends section 20, frequency with which rent review may occur, of the Principal Act to provide for the termination of biannual rent reviews outside RPZs, and the entire country will become an RPZ from the day after the passing of the Bill.

Section 3 amends section 24, areas deemed to be rent pressure zones, of the Principal Act. Section 3(a) provides for a two-month extension until 28 February 2026 to the operation of the RPZs in the administrative areas of Cork City Council, Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council, which were deemed to be RPZs under section 24B(1) of the Principal Act. Section 3(b) provides for a two-month extension until 28 February 2026 to the operation of the RPZ in the local electoral area of Drogheda Rural, which was deemed to be an RPZ under section 24B(2) of the Principal Act. Section 3(c) provides, through a new section 24B(3), for the deeming of any area not already an RPZ to become an RPZ from the day after the passing of this Bill until 28 February 2026.

Section 4 amends section 8(2) of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 to provide for a two-month extension until 28 February 2026 to the operation of existing RPZs designated under section 24A(5) of the Principal Act.

The Bill strikes a balance and takes into account the legal advices of the Attorney General. It will safeguard tenants from high rent inflation during the period to next March. This Bill is an interim measure before we bring forward wider changes announced by the Government last week. I thank all the Deputies for participating in this legislative process in advance of what I referred to occurring. I am sure plenty of points will be made, but I assure the House that all efforts of the Government are about striking the balance between protecting renters and encouraging new investment in the private market. This is an interim measure to allow us to bring all the areas not currently covered by RPZs within the legislation. It is a positive measure that we hope the Opposition will support.

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