Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I welcome Commissioner McGrath back to the House. I also welcome the women's Shankill group who are here with us in Leinster House. They are very welcome here today.

Dearbhaíonn figiúirí ón mBord um Thionóntachtaí Cónaithe inniu an rud atá ar eolas ag tionóntaí cheana féin. Is é sin go bhfuil cíosanna as smacht agus iad ar siúl suas 5% arís le bliain anuas. Is polasaithe an Rialtais atá freagrach as seo. Today's Residential Tenancies Board figures confirm what renters already know and that is that rents are out of control and it is the Government's policies that are responsible. This is not something abstract. I spoke to a couple last week who are renting. They both have good jobs. The plan was simple. They were going to save hard, buy their own home and one day start a family here in Ireland. However, they could not take the rent increases any more and they knew more were coming. Last week, they were left with no other option but to move back into his parent's homes, back into his childhood bedroom. Now their plan has changed. Their plan now is to save money, book flights and head to Australia. This couple are 26 and 27 years of age. This is what non-stop rip-off rents have done to their future and it is a direct result of Government policies over decades that have driven this rent crisis to boiling point.

This crisis has now resulted in 5,400 eviction notices being issued in the last quarter alone. The Government's policies are not getting young people out of boxrooms; it is putting them back into them. In the past year alone, both new and existing rents have risen by 5% across the State. In some counties, the increases have been truly shocking. In Leitrim rents are up 16%, in Carlow they are up 15% and in Longford the are up 14%. The average new rent in this State is now €20,000 a year. In Dublin, the picture is even more brutal. The average new rent in Dublin stands at €27,000 a year.

This is not an accident. This is the direct result of Fine Gael's approach to housing and to renters, letting the market run wild, protecting profits and abandoning ordinary people. Average rents were less than €1,000 when the Tánaiste became a Minister and took up his position in Cabinet. Now, they are nearly double that. That means that people are now having to pay over €9,000 more a year in rent than when he took office, and almost €10,000 more a year in Dublin for new rents.

The Government is going to make matters worse. From March of next year, tens of thousands of renters will see their rent reset to the very top of the market. For some, this will mean a doubling of the rent. How high is the Tánaiste willing to let rents go before he intervenes? Is it €3,000 a month? Is it €4,000 or maybe €5,000? What is his cut-off point? Young people cannot take this pressure any longer. The Government is pricing them out of homes, out of family life and out of their futures. What did renters get in this year's budget? They did not get the promise the Tánaiste made to them that the Government would increase the renter's tax credit. They did not get that but landlords are going to get an increase. They will get €1,000 tax break next year. Workers get no tax cut at all but developers get €250 million of a tax break for apartments that are already under construction. Once again, the Government made clear political choices. It chose landlords and developers over renters.

Our position is clear and simple. The Government needs to end the rip-off. It needs to get rents under control and it is needs to make housing affordable. That means cutting rents and freezing any further rent increases for the next three years to give renters breathing space and to stop this relentless upward spiral.

Here is the question: is the Government going to finally act by cutting rents and introducing a real and meaningful three-year rent freeze - yes or no - or is it going to continue with Fine Gael's failed approach that has already driven rents through the roof? While the Tánaiste sits at the Cabinet table, rents have gone up, on average, by €1,000 a month to the point that it costs €27,000 for a new tenant in this capital. It is shameful.

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