The Government’s proposed new rental plan was defended by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the face of strong Dáil criticism. “It is in the interests of tenants and landlords,” he said. The plan would help hard-pressed tenants experiencing severe rent inflation as a result of the lack of supply of housing.
It was one element of a comprehensive housing strategy that focused on dealing with housing rights across the spectrum. "It will be the subject of extensive debate and discussion in the committee and the Dáil over the course of this week," Mr Kenny added.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin claimed the Government was "arguing an increasingly lonely, isolated, unsustainable position'' on rent control. He asked Mr Kenny whether he accepted the views of those at the frontline of the housing crisis – Threshold, Focus Ireland, the Simon Community, the Peter McVerry Trust and the National Economic and Social Council.
Mr Howlin said the all-party committee on housing and homelessness recommended rent reviews be linked to the consumer price index or a similar index. “Are they all wrong and only yourself and Fianna Fail are right on this issue?” he asked.
Mr Howlin asked how the Government could justify allowing an allowable rent increase which was "a multiple of any other index, eight times the consumer price index''. The Government thought the only pressure zones were Dublin and Cork. "You know these rental pressures exist in Louth and Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford and probably Mayo, " he added.
Mr Kenny said keeping rent in line with the consumer price index nationally, as advocated by Labour, would undermine completely the ability to supply the necessary number of houses to help ease the situation. If Mr Howlin had taken time to look at the designation process, the housing agency, in consultation with the relevant local authority, proposed an area be designated.
“It is a focused, targeted strategy to deal with the question of predictability and certainty for tenancies.” He said landlords, in the vast majority of cases, were owners of private property and, clearly, there was an issue in respect of determining what rent increase might apply.
“The Minister is proposing, under an assessed and agreed system, where pressure exists for rent inflation over a period, to set a cap on the rent increase that can be levied,” Mr Kenny added. “Within that, the rent pressure zone would apply for a three-year term.’’
He said people were happy to enter into tenancies compatible with their needs and that could only be effective where the issue with the supply of houses was dealt with. Clearly, that was a fundamental issue lacking since the collapse of the construction sector a number of years ago.
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said statistics showed average rents were now €1,000 monthly around the country and more than €1,500 in Dublin. "It is out of control," he added. "Rents are already at unsustainable levels." The Government's announcement lacked ambition and compounded the difficulties faced by citizens.
"The most glaring omission is the absence of a system of rent certainty linking annual rent reviews to an index such as the consumer price index, as proposed by the Dáil committee," Mr Adams added. "What has been produced is an ad-hoc package by an ad-hoc Government supported by an ad-hoc Fianna Fáil party that plucks the arbitrary figure of 4 per cent out of nowhere to be applied to rent increases annually in Dublin and Cork."
