Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On RPZs, I have often had colleagues of different parties in the Houses looking for their areas to be zoned. It should not be an ambition to have one's town or county in an RPZ. Such as zone means that people are paying too much rent. People should not campaign to be in an RPZ. I often get criticisms from colleagues in my own town that the area is not in a zone. There is a science behind which areas become RPZs. It is not a political decision; I do not decide, and nobody else decides. There is a logical system applied for an area to become an RPZ, which justifies or explains when an area should become a zone. It then kicks in. That system is working well in some areas. In some cases, there has been evidence of the rent limits or other criteria being abused. This is why the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is committed to bringing legislation to the Houses in a few week's time to deal with that and to change that. It is a good thing to not be in an RPZ; it is not a bad thing. People need to get that into their heads because the RPZs are dealing with high rents.