John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not get into a big back and forth debate with Senator Warfield but I must make some important points in response to what he has outlined, particularly on banning rent increases.

We all want lower rents and that is why the Government is introducing cost rental and why we have moved to a situation where we have indexed rent increases to the consumer price index, or 2%, whichever is less. We have to point out that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. We do not have to look too far to Germany, where the left-wing Berlin Government introduced a rent freeze and banned rent increases overnight. What that did within a 12-month period was reduce the rental stock by up to 60% in Berlin, making it far more difficult for people to find the rental properties we are talking about.

It is all well and good to put things out there but when one is in government one has to balance all the competing interests. We have struck that balance and we have to do so on both sides, in favour of the tenant and the landlord. There are many ways that money can be put back in renters' pockets and one of the ways it can be done is through taxation. That is why I hope the Government will look at income taxes, particularly for those squeezed middle income earners who work the extra bit of overtime in the factory and end up in the higher tax bracket of 52%. There are many ways we can address the issue but if we are going to have a debate on it then it needs to an honest and informed debate on what has happened in other jurisdictions in response to what is being touted by some in the Opposition.