2026-02-05

I echo the sentiments expressed regarding the loss of life in the city today at lunchtime in the public transport accident. I echo what the Minister of State said about people not posting images of it on social media. Our thoughts are with them. There has been one fatality and a number of injuries. Our best thoughts go from this House to the people involved. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I support the legislation because it addresses two realities that we cannot afford to ignore. First, renters need stronger protections and real security. Second, our rental sector needs a stable, reliable, predictable framework that helps to grow and retain landlords within it. This Bill attempts to do both in a way that replaces a degree of confusion and complexity at times with clarity through a new approach that looks at the entire issue from a national perspective as opposed to a piecemeal geographical perspective. I wish to put a human face on the debate that all of us here as TDs can do by reflecting the reality in our own constituencies. During my time as a TD representing Dublin South-West, I have met far too many people living with deep insecurity in their tenancies. These are people who pay their rent, and exceptionally high rent in some cases. They contribute to their communities and they are trying to raise children and hold down jobs. In some cases, they are carers. They still live with the constant fear of a termination notice. I have spoken to individuals and parents have come to my clinics who are terrified of having to pull their children out of school mid-term or face another long commute across the city because they have been priced out of their area. The Minister for housing is aware of this as well and is sympathetic to it. As colleagues have, I have listened to renters who simply cannot make a plan for the future because they do not know if they will be in the same home in six months. As we all know, housing insecurity affects every facet of life, including work, family stability, health, mental health and well-being. That is why the most important promise in this Bill is greater security of tenure. The Bill significantly restricts so-called no-fault evictions for new tenancies. The Minister has strengthened protections in a way that renters will feel in their day-to-day lives. It certainly brings a measure of medium- to long-term stability that simply does not exist unless one has the securest of tenancies. A major step forward is the restriction on no-fault evictions, particularly in relation to larger landlords. From 1 March 2026, tenants entering new tenancies with landlords and companies who hold four or more tenancies will no longer face no-fault evictions. That is a profound shift in the balance of security for renters. Importantly, tenants of smaller landlords, which is those of three or fewer tenancies, will also benefit from substantially improved protections. This matters in a constituency like Dublin South-West where many renters are renting from smaller landlords and need clearer, fairer rules. The Minister is also building on the principle of long-term renting by strengthening tenure duration in the Bill. That goes back to the original point made in the Bill of people being able to plan their lives. A six-year period gives a degree of security. I hope some day that we get to that Vienna model where people can take out a tenancy for life that reflects their living situation and the changing life situation, they are in whether it is illness, out of work or retirement and reflects the manner in which people live. This gives people a degree of security moving forward through rolling tenancies of a minimum duration of six years for new tenancies. That is another tangible improvement in stability for individuals and their families. That ability to plan matters affects children, schooling, employment, carer and whether people can truly build a life in a new community and set down strong roots. The Bill introduces a simpler and fairer rent control framework nationally. I never quite got my head around some of the rules that have applied for the past decade or so. We are moving from rent pressure zones to a national system of rent control providing clarity and consistency across the country. Annual rent increases for covered tenancies will be capped in line with inflation using the consumer price index with a 2% cap in higher inflation periods. That is a real comfort for renters. It is a clear straightforward protection for tenants and removes the unevenness and confusion that developed under the rent pressure zones. I welcome the increased emphasis on transparency in rent setting, including measures aimed at improving the information available in the system around rent levels. Better transparency supports fairness for tenants and better compliance overall. As the Minister has been in his contributions to the debate and about housing generally since his appointment, I wish to be direct about supply. Supply of new builds is the only durable way to bring down pressures on the rental sector. Protecting tenants is essential. I have outlined that in the first part of my contribution. We must also ensure that the rental sector is capable of growing. The current system has not been serving people properly. The Housing Agency review informed the legal framing and direction of these reforms. We need a functioning market that supports the construction of more rental homes, especially apartments and that retains landlords who might otherwise exit the sector. This is why the Minister has provided measures in this Bill designed to retain and attract investment and new supply while pairing those measures with stronger security for tenants. The ability to set rent to market at the start of a new tenancy in defined circumstances and to reset between tenancies is part of that balancing act. However, in return, tenants get stronger security of tenure, including a six-year rolling minimum duration and significant restrictions on termination grounds. I think the Minister has tried to make that balance central to his package of general reforms of the market. On the development of new apartments, and new developments generally, the Minister's approach links rent changes to inflation. This is intended to deliver certainty and encourage investment and building at scale. Having listened to the Minister, I know he has done his homework on this. The country urgently needs more rental accommodation and apartments in particular. Investors like to have certainty, a predictable playing pitch and clear visibility of the horizon ahead. The Minister's objective is to make delivery more predictable in order that the pipeline of new rental homes can grow. Regarding the timing and fairness of the legislation, I support the provision that these measures are designed to apply to new tenancies from 1 March this year. That gives clarity as to who is affected and when. It ensures the new framework will be introduced in an orderly way as the rent pressure zone provisions expire. The Bill offers necessary and balanced reform. It is one of many such reforms the Minister has introduced. Since his appointment, his approach has been to take his time while being very thorough and to come up with a good policy at the end of that thoroughness. The Bill supports the conditions needed to grow rental supply. For renters in my constituency and elsewhere, who include families, workers, students, carers, retired people, older people, single people and married people, security and predictability are not luxuries; they are the foundation of a stable life. I believe and hope this legislation will move us in that direction. I join the Minister in commending it to the House.

This truly is one of the most bizarre Bills I have seen come before the House. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, at a time when families are pinned to their collar by the highest electricity and energy bills and the highest rents in Europe, the Government thinks it a good time to bring forward a Bill that seeks to increase rents even further. Is the Minister aware we are not in a competition here? This is not a race to the bottom. How can anyone see the Bill for anything other than what it is, which is a love letter to the big institutional investors with which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in bed for many a year? It is Irish renters, families and young people on whom the Government is cheating. This rent hike Bill will allow vulture funds and big landlords to hike up the rents of 60,000 people a year. The Minister is calling it a market reset. In fact, it will mean thousands are paying more in rent from 1 March. Whom exactly will this benefit? My constituency of Kildare North has some of the highest rents in the country. The demand for housing, including rental properties, has increased so much because when rents spiral out of control in Dublin, people exchange cheaper rents for longer commuting times. Tenants in County Kildare are paying an average of €1,500 a month. A person would be lucky to get a four-bedroom property in north Kildare for less than €3,000. Rents will increase by 20% on 1 March, which is €300 a month on the average rent price in Kildare. This is the Government's solution to the biggest rental crisis we have faced as a State. Renters are being made to pay to line the pockets of big landlords. Any legislation that seeks seriously to address the regulation of the private rental sector would focus on cutting and freezing rents, not allowing them to rise even further. This Bill will not protect renters; it will push them further to the brink. The average length of a private rental tenancy is three and a half years, according to the RTB. Of all tenancies registered in 2025, 25% were first-time tenancies. If this trend continues, within four to six years the vast majority of private renters will be caught by the market reset rule and big landlords and private investors will be laughing all the way to the bank. Again, the question I have to ask the Minister is "Cui bono?". What is the logic behind such daft legislation? How can he justify these measures at a time when so many people across the board are experiencing hardship? We need rent freezes, not rent increases. What is the Minister at?

Tá an tAire agus an Rialtas ag dul sa treo mícheart leis an reachtaíocht seo. Níl siad ach chun tuilleadh praiseach a dhéanamh den chóras cíosanna tithíochta agus cur leis an bhfadhb bhunúsach tithíochta atá sa tír seo. An t-aon leithscéal a bheadh ann as dul sa treo seo ná go bhfuil an tAire dall go hiomlán ar cé chomh dona is atá fadhb na tithíochta faoi láthair agus le blianta anois, agus nach bhfeiceann sé nach bhfuil an Rialtas ach ag cur leis an gcruachás tithíochta. Ní chreidim go bhfuil an tAire dall. Caithfidh go mbíonn sé ag labhairt le gnáthleanúin nach bhfuil d’acmhainn acu cíosanna an lae inniu sa chathair seo, nó lasmuigh den chathair seo, a íoc agus atá ag smaoineamh ar dul ar imirce. B’fhéidir go mbíonn sé ag labhairt leis na hoibrithe atá ag dul in aois a bhfuil cíos breá orthu faoi láthair atá siad in ann a íoc ach nach mbeidh d’acmhainn acu é a íoc a thuilleadh nuair a théann siad ar phinsean. Beidh orthu brath ar an gcóras tithíocht shóisialta atá cheana féin ag cur thar maoil agus gan aon áit dóibh ann. Muna bhfuil an tAire dall, tá sé féin agus an Rialtas ag glacadh an cinneadh seo lena gcuid súile oscailte go hiomlán. Caithfidh go dtuigeann siad an loitiméireacht a bheas mar thoradh ar an mBille seo: cíosanna agus díshealbhuithe ag ardú; liosta dóibh siúd atá gan dídean, páistí ina measc, ag ardú; imirce ag ardú athuair i measc déagóirí; agus iad siúd atá sna 20idí agus iad siúd atá cáilithe ag bánú na tuaithe agus na bailte tuaithe athuair. Cén fáth? Is í sin an cheist. An t-aon loighic a d'fhéadfadh a bheith taobh thiar de seo ná go bhfuil sé á moladh chun cuidiú leis na tiarnaí talún mhóra - na boic mhóra sna cistí baidhbhe, nó b’fhéidir le bheith níos cruinne, na coistí alpairí. Is iad siúd atá ag sú an t-airgead go smior astu siúd atá ag íoc cíosa. Muna bhfuil na rachmasóirí ag tógáil go leor árasáin nó tithe, is í sin an áit ar chóir go mbeadh an Stát ag cur a ladar isteach. Ba cheart don Stát tithe sóisialta a thógáil é féin agus tithe inacmhainne ar cíos nó le céannacht ar phraghas cóir ar chur ar fáil. Má tá na tiarnaí talún ag díol áitribh toisc an brabús a bheith déanta acu nó toisc an price is right agus iad ag dul ar pinsean, ba chóir don Rialtas féachaint ar iad sin a cheannach. Ba chóir don Rialtas an t-airgead ceart a chur ar fáil do na comhairlí contae agus na comhairlí cathracha ionas go mbeidh siad in ann an scéim tenant in situ a úsáid i gceart sna cásanna atá díshealbhú ar tí tarlú do na cíosóirí gan locht. Caithfimid a bheith praiticiúil sa chur chuige atá againn. Caithfimid a bheith radacach chomh maith agus muid ag tabhairt faoin ngéarchéim ina bhfuil an tír seo. Ní seo an leigheas ar an fhadhb atá againn.

The people I represent in Dublin Fingal West are already paying huge rents, with an average cost of close to €2,500 per month. A person on an ordinary wage is at nothing and has no hope of being able to rent. I am genuinely struggling to understand the logic of this Bill. The Minister has said openly that it will cause the cost of renting to increase. Any reasonable person would agree that rents in this State are too high. Perhaps the Minister disagrees but I would contend they are far too high as it is. This legislation will put them up even more. The impact of the Bill will just be to crease people who simply do not have the money to pay more, all for the crime of wanting and needing somewhere to live. I have been contacted about this by a large number of constituents. They call into my offices, they ring the office and they contact us by email. The Government rep in my area is clever enough now. She has no office and nobody can find her. We are thankfully Fianna Fáil-free, as it goes. When people contact me - and they do - they are really nervous. They hear what the Minister says about the impact of his legislation and they see that it does not bother him. It should but it appears not to. When they come to the office they want an answer in terms of how they are going to be able to afford somewhere to live into the future and I cannot give them one. They are waiting 14 years on the social housing list as it stands. People's entire lives are going to be on hold and the Government's big idea appears to be to put rents up. I genuinely cannot fathom it. I spoke to a family recently who have just been taken off the housing list because they are slightly over the income limit. The reason they are slightly over the income limit is because they have been waiting for social housing for so long that their children have grown up to the point where two of them now have part-time work that has pushed the family income over the limit. They pay for the rent themselves; they do not get HAP or any other assistance. They are private renters. They now have a notice to quit and they see the impact of this. Renting is already tough. They cannot find anywhere to rent as it is. They are going to have to leave their property and now they are facing having to pay even higher rents. When this legislation goes through, it will push the rent up even more. I spoke to the mam. She was in tears. She asked me what this law was for and who it will benefit. I gave her an honest answer, as the Minister would expect me to, which was to say it will certainly not benefit renters; it will benefit large-scale landlords and vulture funds. She asked me why. I genuinely could not answer. I hope the Minister makes that clear because she watches the proceedings in here and, given her own situation, she is worried and anxious. As this legislation goes through, there is no comfort I can give her unless the Minister has some words of comfort to offer her, which I doubt.

This Bill is deeply flawed. It says it is going to protect security of tenure, but it is like I am living in a parallel universe. I am hearing two sides. The Minister's story is one thing and the reality for our constituents is different. The suggestion is that the Bill will protect existing renters from rising rents. Apparently, it is going to protect renters and set rents at market rates. It promises the sun, moon and stars but the reality is that it will not deliver what it purportedly sets out to deliver. New tenants will face immediate market rent increases. There are no guarantees that people will not be evicted. The rents are set at market levels that are so high that I am really concerned. Each time they are reset, I will be particularly concerned about those who are already vulnerable in paying the rent at the rate it is currently at. When that rent increases to a higher level, they will not be able to pay it. I am also very concerned for students. Students move regularly because they rent for ten months of the year and then they move somewhere else. They are subject to this change as well. It means it is not safe for them. Of course this Government does not build affordable student accommodation, which means students have to rent on the private market. Before I came into the Chamber, I looked at daft.ie for rental properties in my own constituency. A one-bed apartment in Crumlin is advertised at €2,266 per month. A three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, which is advertised as a family home, is €3,200 per month in Chapelizod. I do not know who can afford this. I do not think this Bill will do anything to protect anyone who is in this situation. The Minister has openly stated that the goal is to stop long-term rents from falling behind market rents, but this means that all renters will eventually pay an unaffordable rent. The Bill fails to protect against evictions of current renters. When they are evicted, how will they then afford the rents in newer places where rents are really high? People will be locked out. They will be left in renting for the rest of their lives, if they can get somewhere to rent. It will make home ownership impossible for young people. It will create unaffordable rents for key workers, which I am very concerned about as my party's education spokesperson. We hear time and time again about teachers, particularly newly qualified teachers, who are unable to afford to live in Dublin and pay their rents. Every single week, my clinics in my constituency are inundated with people in absolutely dire housing situations who are being evicted through no fault of their own and literally have nowhere else to go. People who are approved for HAP, for homeless HAP and for everything cannot get somewhere to live because they just cannot afford it. As I have already outlined, given the average going rent today in Dublin South-Central, it is no wonder they have nowhere to live. Then they turn up in homeless situations. I live in the Tenters in an area called Fairbrother’s Fields. It was the first tenant purchase scheme that this State ever built. It was built by the fledgling State, between 1922 and 1924, at a time when we were not rich. We had our centenary recently. We were a fledgling State trying to get up on our feet. We were able to produce these homes, which are of a really high standard. If we could do that then, why now when we are so wealthy can we not build homes? Yesterday, my colleague, Deputy Hearne, launched the State construction company proposal that the Social Democrats are offering as a solution to the Government as to how we can do this. We cannot just rely on private investors and private developers for the housing situation because that is the problem. That is the place we are in now. The last thing I will say, before my colleague comes in, is that I am concerned about how young people will ever get on the property ladder. I may have skipped a step because how will they get out of their childhood bedrooms to get to rent somewhere or to buy somewhere? A colleague of mine, who is 26 years of age and an administrative assistant in this House, can no longer afford the rents in the place where they live and has moved back to their family home because the rents are so unaffordable. That is a colleague of ours in this House. I am really concerned about students travelling up and down to apprenticeships, universities and technical colleges around the country who cannot afford the rents there. They are spending a long time travelling because they cannot afford to live there. This Bill is deeply flawed. I am very concerned not only for the current people who are renting but also for the people in the future.

I cannot tell the Minister how many times I have marched in the streets protesting about housing. I have done it against what feels like every single one of the Minister's predecessors. A huge reason I have been so frustrated with Government parties and why I joined the Social Democrats was the utter failure in housing for my generation over multiple governments. Today, years after I first started political activism in protesting on housing, I find myself in this Chamber as a private sector rental tenant with the unique opportunity to tell the Minister exactly what is wrong with housing in Ireland and how his proposed legislation runs the severe risk of making it worse. First, some facts and figures. About 30% of the population in this country rent. In my own constituency, where we are standing right now, about 50% of people rent. I am one of the very few renters who has ever entered this House and spoken in it. The number of people renting in the private rental sector in Ireland has approximately doubled since the 1990s. After the property crash, private equity institutions that were welcomed by this Government and previous governments flooded the Irish market. Today in Dublin, 25% of all tenancies are with large institutional landlords, among the highest concentration anywhere in Europe. Dublin's rents and property prices are among the highest in the developed world. Why is it that Irish exceptionalism always revolves around property? The core proposal in this Bill is the reimagining of tenure based on six-year rolling tenancies for all new entrants. This will provide landlords with the opportunity to reset rents, perhaps even drastically, at the expense of the tenant. This will inevitably lead to higher rents, which are already among the highest in the developed world. Does greed have no limit this Government is willing to set? Is it so wedded to the interests of international private equity that it would sacrifice entire generations in perpetuity to satisfy its lust for wealth? This Bill is the latest incarnation of a Government that is more interested in turning Dublin into a city for the rich at the expense of everyone else. What garda - perhaps the one in the Gallery - or nurse or teacher will be able to afford the highest rents in Europe six years from now? What student or trainee in a graduate programme will be able to live their 20s without flirting with poverty? Through this Bill, the Government is accelerating the breaking of the social contract, pushing people into the high-cost private rental sector, creating precarity rather than security, and incentivising exploitation rather than ensuring there is no floor through which anyone can fall. There is also the critical question of the enforcement of current rules and regulations as well as the new ones. I have numerous reports in my constituency of landlords subverting rules to double or triple rental rates, and with small landlords retaining most of their rights to evict in this Bill, the security of tenure measures may not be sufficient. I have a word of warning for the Minister. The good people of this country will not stand for the Government's continued failures in housing. Importantly, the Minister's voters in Fianna Fáil will not stand for it either. In door after door in my constituency, I consistently meet parents who are worried for their children and grandchildren, who often have them in their home. Even young parents are worried that the cycle of housing improvement is so long that their little ones will grow into an Ireland that seeks to prey on them rather than nurture them and export them rather than strengthen them. Those parents and grandparents recognise that the Minister is sacrificing their loved ones on an altar of avarice. The thing about those who preside over the betrayal of a generation is that they often meet a similar end themselves.

I want to get into some detailed points about this Bill, some points that I do not think have been raised yet, including the double blow that is presented here for homeless HAP tenants who are already being hit in many areas with council rent increases. Before that, the basic point which cannot be driven home hard enough is that this is a Bill for rip-off rents. That is the purpose of it. It is not an accidental outcome of it; that is its purpose. The Government strategy, explicitly, is to get rents to rise higher in order to attract more investment. It is a landlord's charter written by a landlord's Government. It is designed to drive up rents even higher than the unbelievably high levels that they are already at. It means that within the next few years, virtually all renters will be paying at least an extra €3,000 a year or an extra €250 a month. You would think the Government has no idea that we are in the middle of a dire cost-of-living emergency. People cannot afford to pay their rent, heat their homes, put food on the table or buy things for their kids. They already cannot afford to live. That is why People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the left Independents in the Dáil and a broad coalition of disabled person's organisations, trade unions, students' unions and civil society groups are launching the affordable Ireland campaign next month. The key planks of that campaign are to freeze and cap rents and to build public housing. The Government will only take action on the cost-of-living crisis if it is forced, so we need people power to force it. It seems to me that section 8(e)(ii) of the Bill potentially allows for rent hikes to market rates for existing pre-June 2022 tenants, whose Part 4 tenancy expires and who then enter into a further Part 4 tenancy for another six years. The Minister of State said in his opening speech yesterday that "Section 8 provides for a new national rent control in respect of new tenancies, that is, first-time tenancies between parties, created on or after 1 March 2026." That is supposed to reassure existing tenants that their rents will not shoot up yet, unless they move voluntarily or involuntarily. Of course, that happens in any case - on average, every three and a half years for most tenants, and every year for students in private rented accommodation. They are even more shafted by this Bill than everyone else. Another group getting doubly shafted are the HAP tenants and the homeless HAP tenants. Dublin City Council has already hiked rents. Councils across the country have already hiked the rents that they are paying to the council. On top of that, now they are going to be increasing the top-up they have to pay to their landlords. It is a shameful attack on the poorest households in the country. As I understand it, the Minister is saying this does not affect pre-June 2022 Part 4 tenancies. Section 8(e)(ii) provides that it does not apply to "a tenancy ... to which section 5(4)of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2021 applies", which means it does not apply to further Part 4 tenancies of unlimited duration. I cannot see that it states specifically anywhere in the Bill - I look forward to the Minister's reply - that it does not apply to further Part 4 tenancies that are not of unlimited duration; in other words, the situations where the tenants moved in prior to June 2022. If you moved into your home in April 2020 and you are coming to the end of a six-year Part 4 tenancy, which will expire in April 2026, assuming you are not evicted first it will automatically become a further Part 4 six-year tenancy at that point. Where does it say in the Bill that this further Part 4 tenancy is not a new tenancy? Citizens Information states, "After these 6 years, the tenancy ends and a new tenancy can begin." If a further Part 4 tenancy is legally a new tenancy, then section 8(e)(ii) appears to say that a dwelling that was previously rent-controlled for the previous six years - all those rents - will be reset to market rates. Can the Minister specifically answer that question? The final issue I want to raise is about section 14. It allows for so-called small landlords to carry out a no-fault eviction on grounds of sale if they would use at least 15% of the proceeds to pay off some or all of a debt that they owe which is falling due within nine months of the eviction date. That appears to me to be a massive loophole that will allow buy-to-let landlords to evict tenants on grounds of sale when they are coming to the end of their mortgage term. There is no need for it. They can simply sell in any case, with the tenants in situ, without forcing their eviction. The only reason to allow it is to maximise their sale price. There is also nothing to stop a landlord taking on a short-term loan in order to say it is falling due and therefore use this loophole to sell.

The Minister and his colleagues across the Government have invested a lot of their political capital in the success of this Bill. We are here to ask whether it will work. At this point, it is extremely hard to express confidence that it will. When taken as a whole, I see a Bill that is looking to satisfy conflicting policy aims simultaneously, and it is hard to see such an endeavour having a successful end. Worse, the Bill is performing a kind of bait and switch when it comes to the private rental sector. The end result of this will certainly be a serious rollback in terms of rent affordability for thousands of people, for singles, for people sharing and for their families. This will have an impact on disposable income for a huge cohort into the longer term, and will drive more families into homelessness. The security of tenure measures would, in isolation, be welcomed. Such measures should have been introduced here ten or 15 years ago to bring Ireland in line with most other European countries. However, in no way can we say that this is an evolution in thinking from the Government parties toward valuing, safeguarding and making viable private renting for people's life cycles in the manner found in countries like Austria, Germany or Denmark. Leaving aside that such a policy would be incredible coming from either of the Government parties, the arrival of secure tenancy rules in the same instrument that, at a stroke, rolls back the key affordability safeguards shows us that the Government thinks of this as more of an experiment or a gamble. The success of that gamble is fully riding on the ability of large-scale developers and investors to deliver apartments at scale, and those who can afford to live in those apartments be damned, either through purchase or through rental arrangements. There are going to be victims here. There are going to be people and families who experience the hard end of the Government's gamble. They are people who will have to agree to far steeper rents that hit their incomes harder than anything we saw during the inflation crisis. They are people who already have no way out of renting and now will see that only lifeline extinguished. It may be a cohort that the Government parties have judged you can dump on without losing support, but that would be a critical mistake. I assume the Department has attempted to model the impact of these changes. Maybe in the Minister's sum-up speech he could tell us exactly how long it will take for supply to increase to a level that would result in what would be considered a normal or sustainable rate of rent inflation. That analysis or projection would be really valuable, because that is the fulcrum upon which this entire experiment turns. That honesty to people in terms of what we are expecting, and how long it is going to take for this gamble to work, is important because housing is at the core of how people plan their entire lives. It is the literal foundation upon which people are able to plan where they go to work or whether they stay at home to care for children, buy two cars or one, go to college, or even whether they think it is worthwhile to stay in Ireland at all. Will the Minister of State reassure us safeguards will be put in place to mitigate some of the worst increases that may come about as a result of the market rate reset? Has the Government's model determined the proportion of tenants who will see the steeper ends of the increases? Will additional funding be provided to the local authority cost-rental tenant in situ scheme, which is a measure that has a direct effect in providing an alternative for people? Have measures been put in place to do something to mitigate the short-term pain it is absolutely clear will be endured by many renters as a result of these proposals?

I noted a lot of interest in many of the comments made. Both the Minister, Deputy Browne, and I were listening in. I noted Deputy O'Reilly's comments when she said with glee that her constituency is Fianna Fáil free. I come from a constituency, Cork South-West, where we do not have a single Sinn Féin councillor, Senator or TD. That is because, thankfully-----

Yet.

Yet.

-----the people of Cork South-West can see through its empty politics. That is just an answer back on that one.

Okay. The Minister of State should probably stick to the subject, if he can.

Thanks as well-----

You have nothing to say in your legislation, so ramble on there.

-----for the other comments. I listened with interest because what the Deputies have done is highlight the issues. Rents are too high, we do not have enough supply and we have far too much homelessness. This is something we all know. It is something that this Bill is trying to address. We often hear references to the Housing Agency and its recommendations. What the Housing Agency has asked the Government to do is to ensure more protection for renters, which is what this Bill does through designating the entire country an RPZ, and the necessity to attract more investment in the provision of accommodation. That is what we are looking to do. The Minister has been set an incredibly difficult task but this legislation creates that balance. I can speak on behalf of my constituents in Cork South-West. Clonakilty, the town I come from, was not in an RPZ. There was a function to be able to reset rents at any rate and there was no restriction on that. Now, there is that restriction. I can tell the Deputies a lot of constituents in Clonakilty, and in those other towns outside RPZs, have greeted this with a sense of relief. That is a fact; I am talking to my constituents as well. We have also seen a positive reaction from investment. I am very confident that what we see in this legislation will lead to an increase in supply and see a levelling off of the rapid rate of rent increases we have seen in this country over the last number of years. The Private Rental Sector Review, published in 2024, highlighted the need to improve certain aspects of rent regulation. Following the completion of the review, the Housing Agency was requested to undertake a review of RPZs and the Review of Rent Pressure Zones and Consideration of Potential Policy Options for Rent Controls in the Private Rented Sector was published by the agency in June 2025. A key focus of the review was to examine the impact of RPZs on the rental market and to make recommendations on whether rent controls should be removed, modified or amended. The Housing Agency report recommended that the existing system of rent controls be modified with the introduction of a national system of rent controls allowing rental prices to adjust with inflation within a tenancy, and for rent resetting between tenancies to reflect market rents, with enhanced tenancy security measures to protect against economic evictions. The review involved engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders, including investors, representatives of landlord and tenant advocacy groups, academics and the Residential Tenancies Board. It also involved an extensive analysis of domestic and international research on rent regulation. From the review, it is clear there has been meaningful moderation of rents due to the existence of RPZs. However, tenants outside RPZs did face higher rent increases. Today’s Bill, providing for a national rent control, will help all tenants. The review suggested that there is a negative supply impact linked to the 2021 tightening of the RPZ rent controls, including the imposing of a real price cut when inflation exceeds 2%, which correlated with an increase in the supply of homes for sale and a decline of rental registrations. The review also noted international research on rent control, which suggested that controlled rents deliver a considerable price reduction to sitting tenants. However, they might not significantly improve affordability. Tenants might have faced higher rents upon tenancy commencement in new rental accommodation, with the rent increase restriction priced into the initial rent set. Over time, reduced supply is likely to see higher rents impact on tenant mobility. There is also the risk that landlords will not make the necessary investment in maintenance and refurbishment. The review also identified that lreland’s current RPZ system appears to be severe for two reasons. First, it sets its rent cap at 2% or the inflation rate, whichever is lower, meaning that rent increases may not keep pace with inflation and, second, it does not allow for a resetting of rents to market rates after a tenancy ends. The linking of rent regulation to a property rather than a tenancy, as is the case with RPZs, is viewed as a more stringent system of rent control. The review highlighted that RPZ reform could incentivise investment and would likely have a positive effect on supply. It also noted other factors, such as interest rates and measures to support viability, which the Government was actively considering during the period of the review. This is why, at its meeting on 10 June 2025, the Government approved new policy measures to provide for enhancement to rent controls and tenancy protections from 1 March 2026. The stronger tenancy protections will provide further improvements to security of tenure. The rental sector provides a home for a significant proportion of the population and we need to give people more certainty that their tenancy will not be ended. We want to provide more stability and confidence to renters. All landlords will continue to have the option to sell with the tenants in situ at any time. In order to stimulate investment and keep existing landlords in the market, the resetting of rents to market value for new tenancies created on or after 1 March 2026 will be allowed as part of the reform of rent controls. The linking of rent control to a property rather than a tenancy under the current RPZ system of rent control makes investment in rental accommodation less attractive in Ireland. A proportion of tenancies in the State are charging below market rent and, under the current regulatory regime, can never increase rent to market rent. By allowing rent resetting for new tenancies from 1 March 2026, existing and new landlords, who are vital for the sector, will be able to ensure that their investment is viable. Rent resetting cannot apply where the most recent tenancy ended through a no-fault eviction. Also, rent resetting allows landlords to lower rents in the knowledge that the rents could be reset at the start of the next tenancy. Rent resetting will also be allowed after each six-year period of a long-standing tenancy that commences on or after 1 March 2026. Given the critical need to attract investment in new apartment development for the rental market, rent increases for apartments, subject to both a commencement notice and a certificate of compliance on completion under building control regulations on or after 10 June 2025, will be linked to the inflation rate without the application of a 2% cap. These reforms aim to encourage investment in, and development of, new housing supply, including new rental apartments, to help slow down rent increases and moderate rent levels over time. We already see some evidence of increased confidence in investment in the sector since the announcement of these measures last June. In line with the commitment in the programme for Government and a recommendation of the Housing Commission, the Bill provides for a rent price register. The RTB’s published register will now include the rent amount and other relevant tenancy information, such as floor area, number of bedrooms and bed spaces, and the BER of the dwelling. The aim is for rent information available through the published register to support landlords to set lawful rents and help prospective tenants to assess the prevailing rents in their area. The Government has committed to providing a stable and predictable rental sector to attract and retain the private investment needed to meet our housing demand. The impact of the current rent control system on the supply of new homes for rent has informed the development of this Bill. The provisions of the Bill aim to attract more private investment into the Irish rental sector as soon as is possible. Increasing the supply of private rental accommodation is crucial to meet housing demand and improve rent affordability. Rent controls are a key protection while housing demand is greater than housing supply. Investment market reports indicate that very little private investment of scale has gone into the development of new-build homes for the private rental sector since mid-2022. Numerous market and expert reports have all identified the current rent control system as an impediment to the supply of new private rental accommodation. The Housing Agency’s review, the Private Rental Sector Review of 2024, the Department of Finance’s report on the flow of finance for residential development of 2024, the Housing Commission, the ESRI, the OECD and the IMF have all identified the current rent control system as an impediment to the supply of new private rental accommodation. The Government is aware of the difficulties faced by many renters in accessing affordable and suitable rental accommodation in today’s constrained market. I believe we all share a common goal of providing quality, affordable accommodation for renters. Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030 commits to improving the supply and affordability of rental accommodation and security of tenure. The Government is committed to growing investment in the rental sector. This Bill will help to attract investment and increase the supply and choice of accommodation available for rent. I again thank Deputies for their contributions and commend the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 to the House. I look forward to progressing through the Remaining Stages of the Bill over the coming weeks.

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 11 February 2026.