Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

I say again that housing is the number one issue affecting my generation. It was the biggest issue by far and away for me on the doors, whether I was speaking to people my own age; getting messages from people on social media saying they would love to be able to come home and afford a home; parents who said when I knocked on doors that their adult children were still living at home, as I am also; or grandparents worried about their grandchildren's future in this country and how they will be able to afford to live here, rent or buy an affordable home.

I welcome and support this Bill which is about protecting renters. We are moving swiftly on this as a Government and I welcome the work of the Minister of State and that of his colleagues in the Department on it. Following last week's approval by the Government of the urgent drafting of the legislation to extend and expand the operation of the rent pressure zones, we are now bringing this Bill to the House today. While the rental measures announced have been necessarily complex for what is a very complex issue to respond to the different situations we are seeing in the rental market, it is important we provide clarity, stability and certainty for the rental sector, including those who rent or let properties. There was a balance to be struck between trying to get more investment into the private market, which is essential, and protecting renters. We have some of the most protective measures in any rental market in Europe and one of the highest levels of regulation in the European Union.

It is important, as an interim measure, for all tenants to be protected as soon as possible under the current rent increase restrictions that apply to the RPZs. This Bill provides that necessary protection for all tenants until 28 February 2026. It provides for a two-month extension, until February 2026, to the operation of the existing RPZs. It also provides for non-rent pressure zones to become rent pressure zones, including in my constituency, from the day after enactment of the Bill. This is about providing certainty, clarity and stability for the rental market. It is important as an interim measure for all tenants to be protected as soon as possible under the current rent increase restrictions that apply to RPZs. The Bill provides that necessary protection for all tenants.

The simple fact is that we have a record level of State investment in housing, but State investment alone cannot fix this problem. I recognise that supply has increased but we have a long way to go. A big part of that simply has to be the private market. The State is doing an enormous amount of work. It needs to do an awful lot more, but opening up private investment to come into the market to build in particular the apartments we need at scale will be a key component of how we start to reach those targets.

While I discussing housing, I will go slightly off topic and take the opportunity to again mention log cabins, modular buildings and modern methods of construction. I welcome what has been done by the Government to date and what has been spoken about to date. We need to see urgent action but we need to go beyond the planning exemption for back-yard dwellings and go to more modular units and log cabins where it is appropriate, that is, where planning is appropriate and we can get connections to utilities such as wastewater treatment and so forth. There is a place for them in the market. I am convinced of that. For young people who want their own homes, those who have a site and home and want to build, the only way it would be affordable is through those and I ask the Minister of State to seriously take that into account.

I look forward to supporting this Bill and introducing more measures and protections for renters currently in the market, but also spurring on supply from the private sector, along with all the massive work being done through public investment in housing.

See this speech in context