Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, to discuss this important issue.

I absolutely support his initiatives on housing. They are excellent, first class and well thought out, and the intention is good, particularly in rent pressure zones. Having said that, I live in a town where some of the estates are divided. An estate called Beaubec has some of its houses in the rent pressure zone while the others are not. In an estate called Rosevale, there is a rectangle in the green space around the houses. If one drew a diagonal across it, one would find all the houses on the left are rent controlled while all those on the right are not. It is a joke. It is a joke because the boundary between Drogheda and east Meath does not make sense. The boundaries are historical, dating back hundreds of years. There are no rivers or bridges on the boundary, just an imaginary line drawn on the ground. The issue emerges only in cases like this.

The problem concerns families living in these estates who are renting homes, particularly poorer families. It is poorer families whose needs I am addressing specifically. The supports for families who live in Drogheda, be they in the rent pressure zone or not, are higher than those for poorer families in cities such as Cork, Galway and most parts of this country. Therefore, poorer families are denied the protection of the Minister's rent pressure zones in my town. They are denied this on the basis of an arbitrary line and a formula that is inconsistent and does not take them into account. There ought to be a change to the formula so families who are poorer, unemployed and qualify for housing assistance payments will be put first. Drogheda has greater supports for the families in question than Cork and Galway, yet it is still excluded. Those affected could well be exposed in rent reviews over the next six quarters.

What were the rent reviews like in the past? In each of the past six quarters, the rents in Drogheda increased more than anywhere else. The increases are higher than the national average. Many of our tenants are being fleeced by these rent increases. They cannot afford them and are under serious pressure. My office is inundated with families who are very upset and concerned about this.

I have raised this matter with the proper authorities, including the RTB, ESRI, Housing Agency and the Minister's Department but I am still not satisfied that the formula is right. I await the Minister's response in regard to this. Ultimately, we must stand up for the poorest families, who face the greatest pressure in towns such as Drogheda and who, notwithstanding the good intentions of the Minister, remain excluded from the protection and safety of the rent pressure zones.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the concerns of many people he represents very effectively in Drogheda. He rightly points out that rent pressure zone designation is assessed on the basis of local electoral areas. When local electoral area boundaries divide urban communities, as they do in certain parts of Drogheda, there are anomalies and consequences about which some people are not happy. Drogheda is unusual in terms of local electoral areas.

Issues arise in the town in which I live, Carrigaline, just outside Cork. They were raised by Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire during the week. Since the local electoral areas in the town are separated by the river, half the town is in and half the town is out. I have to have an assessment process that works on the basis of what is likely to be best for the vast majority of places. The most accurate way in which we could do that was to assess on the basis of local electoral areas.

We introduced the legislation before Christmas. Up until Christmas, we could assess on the basis of local authority areas. On that basis, there were only five local authorities in the country that actually qualified under the designation - the four Dublin ones and Cork city. We then looked in a much more granular and targeted way at local electoral areas within local authority areas to add significantly to the number of rent pressure zones that were going to qualify. The way it works is that the legislation states that the Housing Agency, in consultation with local authorities, can make recommendations to the Minister on areas that need further detailed assessment to determine whether they qualify. The agency recommended a series of areas that should be considered. On that basis, we designated 23 towns, or local electoral areas, as new rent pressure zones. They were announced last Thursday. They include Ballincollig-Carrigaline in County Cork, Celbridge-Leixlip, Naas and Kildare-Newbridge in County Kildare, Ashbourne, Laytown-Bettystown and Ratoath in Meath, Bray and Wicklow in County Wicklow, and all of Galway city. I can understand that there is frustration in towns that are close to these areas that do not qualify. We have to have, however, criteria that are independently assessed and not politically driven. They must be data driven. This involves the RTB working with the ESRI to obtain accurate data on the two criteria, which are that rents must be above the national average and must have been increasing by 7% or more annually in four of the past six quarters. We felt that was a reasonable balance that would be relatively easy to assess and understand. If it were made too complex, the assessment process would take too long and there would be further anomalies and so on.

We will re-examine Drogheda. At the end of each quarter, we need to assess again whether there are changing data for four of the preceding six quarters and whether the rent is above the national average. Towns such as Navan, big towns such as Drogheda and others may qualify in time but currently do not meet the necessary criteria. That is the only reason Drogheda has not been included to date.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I challenge the criteria being used. I accept and acknowledge there is no political involvement in the formula but the formula is wrong. In Drogheda, rents increased in each of the past six quarters. They have increased by 16% in the past year, which is much in excess of 7%. Poorer families are supported more because they have a greater problem. This is recognised by the Department of Social Protection and now by the Minister's Department.

I have asked the RTB to re-examine its formula. It is based on new available properties for rent, not on existing ones. There are very few houses available for rent in Drogheda in any case. People cannot get them. Those who are in properties accept rent increases because they have nowhere else to go.

I looked at www.daft.ie, which is mentioned in the statement from the Minister's Department. On Monday of this week, there were 46 properties listed in the Drogheda area.

Drogheda is larger than just the town and stretches out to Clogherhead and almost to Dún Laoghaire. It is a huge area. Of the 46 properties, two thirds had rents of €1,000 or higher, which is more than the national average of €956. Most of the Drogheda properties below the €956 level were one- or two-bedroom apartments.

Is the RTB's formula correct? Is its mix of housing right? In urban areas, people are being charged a great deal for small, terraced houses. In east Meath, which I am happy has been included in a rent pressure zone, properties tend to be semi-detached housing or apartments.

I welcome the Minister's commitment to re-examine the matter. Poor families must be looked after and protected, but we are not protecting them under the formula. It must change.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Families on low incomes get many supports, for example, the housing assistance payment, HAP, the rental accommodation scheme and rent supplement. We took an extra 12,000 people onto the HAP scheme last year. We will take on even more, probably a further 15,000, this year. HAP and rent supplement payments were increased significantly last summer in many areas where there had been rental inflation. These increased support levels will cost the taxpayer an extra €50 million this year.

I agree with Deputy O'Dowd that the State has a responsibility to look after low-income families that are under pressure in the rental market. The core point is that we must increase supply. In Drogheda and many other towns, there are not enough available properties and there is too much competition for those that are available, which drives inflation. In some cases, landlords are abusing the situation. In others, they are not. Tenants are vulnerable in that type of market, which is why we have chosen to act in a way that no Government has ever acted, namely, to intervene in the private rental market and effectively put a cap on what rents can increase by each year for the next three years.

Under dispute in this debate are the criteria that allow an area to get into the protection zone for tenants. We picked something that was easy to understand. It was the subject of much discussion and consultation. It was relatively easy to assess independently by the RTB and the ESRI. Like the Deputy's figure of an increase of 16%, their calculation is based on new tenancies or new reviews and tries to get an accurate picture of the overall areas being assessed.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise for cutting in, but we only have 48 minutes for the Topical Issue debate. I thank the Minister and the Deputy for their co-operation.