Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to support this Bill. I believe the proposal to link any increase or decrease in rent, arising from a rent review, to the consumer price index as set by the Central Statistics Office to be a modest and sensible proposal that will go some way to providing stability in a very volatile and often broken housing market.

This call for full rent certainty is supported by a range of civil society groups, including the Simon Communities of Ireland. Having worked for the Simon Community in Cork for many years I saw at first hand every day the devastating impact of homelessness on people and their lives. There is no doubt that rising rents are driving people into homelessness. Given the scale of the national housing and homelessness crisis, we all need to move beyond partisan politics and work collectively in the national interest to solve this crisis.The Government and the Minister's commendable and ambitious "Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness", commits to creating a sustainable, secure and affordable rental sector. Under the heading of security, the action plan commits to bringing greater certainty to tenants and landlords. There is consensus on this certainty across the floor. The Bill provides for this desired certainty and would go some way to help make the Government commitment a reality.

Working together, the Opposition parties, Government and Independents can solve these issues. Homelessness is not inevitable. We do not need to wait. We can act today by passing the Bill. Fixing the rental sector is at the core of this response, and this was reinforced in yesterday's budget. Today, therefore, it is all the more important that we urgently take measures to make the market operate as well as possible. People have suffered, and continue to suffer, the impact of the under-regulated rental market. Although there are Members of this House and the other who fear and loathe market regulation, when the market is as dysfunctional and broken as our is, it requires these modest interventions.