Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

We have put forward solutions. The Social Democrats has put forward a number of solutions. I have written books on it. To say we have not put forward solutions is just untrue. The Minister should be more honest and say he disagrees with our proposals and on what is put forward and outline why.

There is a hole in the Minister's argument. We are separating what has been brought forward today and what will be brought forward in the coming months. We are not opposing what the Government is bringing forward today on the basis that renters need that protection immediately. It is as a result of the changes it is bringing forward in the coming months from March that this emergency legislation is needed and we called for it. I do not believe the Government was planning to bring it forward. If it was, it would have announced it immediately as part of the overall announcement.

As I said, there is a hole in the middle of the Minister's argument that he is protecting renters. If the Government were protecting renters, and that is the sole outcome of these measures, then where is the incentive for more supply? Where is the incentive for landlords to stay in the market? If the Government is doing this with the singular purpose of protecting renters, which means ensuring rents cannot increase further and that renters have protection from eviction, it would not have any measures that incentivise supply through these measures. However, the truth is there are incentives for supply as the Government has set out in its legislation, the most significant of which is the intertenancy change in rent caps. The Government will bring in this change from 1 March. The situation currently is that when a renter leaves a property, be it voluntarily or through an eviction notice - a notice to quit - on the basis of sale or a family member, and a new tenant comes in, the rent charged to the new tenant coming in is still only 2% higher than the existing rent when they get their rent increase. What the Government is changing is that when a new tenant comes into that property, the landlord will be able to increase the rent to the market rent. Is that correct? "Yes" or "No". The Minister does not know.

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