Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

I am quite personally aggrieved and insulted that in his contribution the Minister compared me and the Labour Party to the far right. I certainly try to avoid making personal charges against individuals. I certainly do not go around the place whipping up hate. As a proud anti-racist, I genuinely urge the Minister to withdraw the remark.

Amendment No. 2 is in my name and its purpose is to provide for no rent increase in rent pressure zones for the relevant period specified in section 2(b) of the proposed Bill. I am doing this because rents are already at record levels. The average rent is more than €2,000 a month and people simply cannot afford to pay any more. We need a rent freeze and we need to give people in tenancies some comfort over the next two years.

Rents are already rising more than what is allowed under the RPZ legislation. That legislation is frequently flouted, as we know. I reject the idea that we have to strike a balance between investors and renters, purely because the entire housing system as it stands is so imbalanced against renters. The changes the Government proposes will not necessarily address the viability issue. There are still issues with roadblocks to planning and infrastructure. The Labour Party believes this will not address the key issue for us, which is protection and affordability for renters, as it will deliver a certain kind of unaffordable build-to-rent supply specifically in Dublin.

This is a simple and practical amendment that will give renters some breathing space for a defined period of two years.

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