Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

Okay. That is what the Government has set out. When a tenant leaves the property and a new tenant comes in, the rent will be able to increase to market rent. That is one of the Government's clear incentives. It is not true for the Government to say it is protecting renters, because those new renters who are trying to find properties have to then pay the market rent. That is where this will lead. As the Housing Agency said very clearly, this will lead to higher average rents across the board.

That is a really important measure for institutional investors. I am not saying that; the institutional investors have been arguing and lobbying for it for years. Pat Farrell, the head of Irish Institutional Property, has been in and out and he is a former Fianna Fáil chairperson. We know they have been lobbying really hard and that getting rid of the intertenancy was one of the key things. The Government is removing it with these measures. The Government will be removing the intertenancy rent cap. That is not us sowing confusion; that is us being straight. The Government needs to be honest and straight with people that it is removing some of the rent regulation, namely, removing the intertenancy rent cap. That will lead to higher rents. Renters, as they leave tenancies, and young people, as leave their homes to try to enter the rental market, will be facing higher rents in new tenancies.

As I said, institutional investors were looking to get rid of the intertenancy rent cap and increasing rent in line with inflation. The Government is bringing that in for new apartments that have commenced from last week. What that means is the Government has removed the rent cap for new build apartments and linked it to inflation. If inflation goes to 3%, 4%, 5% or 20%, the rent will increase to that level. There will be a different rental regime for those new renters. As I said earlier, it will pull up the ladder for those renters and for others who are trying to find a rental property. We are not sowing confusion or misleading anyone; that is what the Government is doing and what it has presented. On that basis, I support these amendments.

As I said earlier, there is a gap with regard to the protection from eviction. Renters will have no-fault eviction protection when renting from large landlords - those with four or more properties - and corporate landlords. Smaller landlords, however, whom hundreds of thousands of renters will go through in the coming years, will not have the same no-fault eviction obligations. Is it legal to have a form of legal protection for one set of renters and none for another set? Is there an element of discrimination to that? I do not know, but what is clear is that it will provide a lower level of security of tenure for tenants of smaller landlords. That will be the reality.

As I said earlier, we know that there are thousands of landlords every year who breach and break the rental laws. They do it through illegal evictions and illegal rent hikes. The Government is now leaving loopholes open for them where they will be able to continue to engage in forms of breaking the law because there is not sufficient enforcement or regulation. We do not have a culture that means that renters feel empowered. Unfortunately, renters will not feel more empowered with these measures. That is the unfortunate reality. Renters know that rents can be increased to the market rate, as Mike Allen said.

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