Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was not expecting this. It feels more like a wedding than the passing of a Bill. I am just getting used to it. The move by the Government to link rents to the consumer price index is progressive, long overdue and welcome. I also see that institutional property investors kicked up about the issue. Taking this action in the face of lobbying from people on the outside, particularly landlords, is important.

We have a major issue with security of tenure for renters. I was glad last week to be able to text somebody who was worried about losing their house over the 8% rent increase to say the law was going to change, they would not be facing 8% and the increase would possibly be less than 1%, depending on what the calculator came up with. It is a relief to a considerable number of people. However, we need to address security of tenure for people in rental accommodation. That is a key issue. We are an outlier in Europe in terms of doing that and I look forward to seeing comprehensive renters' legislation in the autumn.