Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have seen further evidence today, with the publication of the Private Residential Tenancies Board rent index, that rents in this country are rising, in particular in the Dublin area. There is evidence that rent increases of 10% have occurred between June of this year and June of last year. I believe that is an underestimate of the level of rent increases and I know that Threshold, for example, has noticed that 20%, 30% and 40% rent increases regularly occur. As the PRTB pointed out, the reality is that those kinds of rents represent 41% of the income of the tenants registered with it.

It is not sustainable to have people pay such an amount to put a roof over their heads.

Renting is no longer a minor or marginal form of tenure consisting of students and people moving towards home ownership. One in five people nationally rent, with Dublin and Galway recording even higher figures of one in four and one in three, respectively. Ireland's rate of home ownership has gone from one of the highest to one of the lowest in Europe. Perhaps the Opposition will reflect on that fact before the forthcoming election.

I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on the possibility of introducing a rent certainty model. Families need to know from one end of the year to the next that their children will be able to continue to attend the same school and they will not be faced with rent increases of 20% or 30%. From personal experience, I am aware that people are losing their homes daily as a result of rent increases. It is time we got serious about this issue and I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to the House for a debate on it.