Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are people all over the city and in other parts of the State this evening getting ready to join queues outside properties in an attempt to try to put a roof over their heads. There are also dozens seeking a spot in a doorway or in an alley, where the open, starry sky will provide their roof for the night. The rental market in Dublin and other cities in Ireland is in absolute chaos. The chronic shortage of rental properties is unsustainable and something must give. The shortage is getting worse by the month. As of August this year, just over 3,500 properties were available for rent across the State, which is 1,000 fewer than in August last year. Just 1,100 of these properties were available in this city. In the period since 2011, when rents bottomed out following the downturn, rents have risen by over a third. Monthly rents are 10% higher today than they were this time last year.

My party introduced a rent certainty motion in the Dáil in June. At the time we were accused by Fianna Fáil, and particularly its housing spokesperson, Deputy Barry Cowen, of "playing silly buggers" old politics with the issue. We were accused of attempting to undermine the work of the all-party committee on housing and our proposal was described as gutter stuff. My party certainly does not think it was silly buggers or gutter stuff. The silly buggers is that here we are, nearly four months later, with the all-party committee having produced its recommendations, but we still have no rent certainty. The gutter stuff is the poor people living in the gutter on a nightly basis because politicians have refused to act.