Story of the Week
The Government presented it as a coup, something that came as a surprise to the Opposition, that would remove any basis for attack.
For weeks, there were rumours that the rent pressure zones (RPZs) were about to come a cropper, and the Government was going to scrap, or seriously curtail their use, in a bid to attract big finance to reboot the construction of apartment blocks, which has been moribund for many months.
And yes, the news that the RPZs were being extended across the State did serve to blunt Opposition attacks. After all, has the Opposition not been calling for months to save them? And applying them everywhere made sense, given that 24 of the 31 councils, and 111 of the 166 local electoral areas, were already in RPZ zones.
Curbing the “no-fault” notice to quit was also a smart move in heading off the Opposition.
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It was the subsequent policy announcement that was to prove more tricky. The new distinction between small and corporate landlords. The fact that there will be different rules for new tenancies in the future, which will be set at market rate, with increases measured against inflation. The right of landlords to reset rent after six years.
Those new rules were designed to attract institutional investors back to the Irish market. They wish to have predictable returns on their investment, and it is clear that RPZ was a big impediment for at least some of those.
It’s clear that the purpose of the change was to strike a balance between protecting the rights of tenants (already paying painfully high rent) and those of investors who are badly needed to to be part of the solution.
The policy, or the communication of it, was not thought through, however. When detailed questions were asked, there were conflicting and ambiguous answers coming from different Ministers.
Would existing tenants in RPZ be subject to that six-year rent review? It took a day for that to be clarified, with the Opposition claiming some hasty revision took place. Would announcing the start date of March 2026 encourage landlords to hold off renting properties and then benefit from higher rents from next year?
James Browne ended up taking some flak. He’s not the world’s best communicator but he’s a doer. That said, it’s going to take a long time before we know if this measure will make any difference.
Elsewhere, Stephen Collins is writing about the tortuously slow pace of any development or project in Ireland. He adjudges this to be a hard decision. Time will tell on that. But many more hard decisions need to be taken to bridge that yawning gap between supply and demand.
Bust up
The first item on the agenda of any Irish political party is the split. And the smaller and more marginal the party, the bigger the chasm.
Our colleague Ronan McGreevy brought us this intriguing report this week about 30 activists leaving People Before Profit because – wait for it – it had become too mainstream and establishment.
The walkout has been led by Dublin city councillor Madeleine Johansson. There was some jaw-dropping rhetoric in it. The “fake democracy of the Dáil” should be replaced by a 32-county workers’ republic.
“Assemblies of workers in workplaces and communities elect delegates, who are recallable, to a workers’ national assembly.”
Wow.
To effect, one working-class revolution is required involving mass protests and strikes leading to workplace occupations and a challenge to the old State.
Democracy in action? Well, not quite.
One of the bases of the objection is that PBP would consider joining that bastion of the establishment, Sinn Féin, in Government.
To quote the statement, a Sinn Féin-led government would “coalesce with the establishment and leave untouched the real government, the permanent government – the State bureaucracy, army chiefs and head Guards”.
That’s what you call sweeping changes.
Not that Paul Murphy is overly concerned right now, having been detained in Egypt while on the Great March to Rafah.
That’s all very well but does any of this affect me?
It happened so long ago, 36 years ago, in 1989, that it seems historical. But the circumstances of the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane by loyalist gunmen have suppurated like a wound for more than three decades.
Today’s announcement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, is a big moment. He confirmed the independent chair and assessors for the public inquiry into the murder of Mr Finucane.
And so it is important.
As Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in a statement: “This is the final outstanding inquiry from those that were recommended by Judge Cory in 2004, and it is positive that it can now move to beginning its important and substantive work.
“Today’s announcement highlights the importance that a way forward is found to comprehensively address all the outstanding cases of the Troubles.”
Banana skin
The National Shared Services Office (NSSO) is usually a backwater for news stories but on Tuesday all that changed when Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers held an unexpected media conference.
As Cormac McQuinn reported, pension payment calculations for some Ministers, including current serving ones, might have been overstated, or understated, up to the tune of €30,000.
It was also revealed that a pool of 13,000 retired civil servants who were on work-sharing arrangements are to have their pension deductions checked for underpayments.
There is also an issue in relation to the pensions of 30 retired senior civil servants. One of them could owe as much as €280,000 as a result of NSSO errors.
Now the Public Accounts Committee is taking an interest in it. This could get very sticky for the NSSO.
Winners and losers
Winner: James Browne, for pushing through a hard political decision.
Loser: James Browne, for failing to communicate clearly enough what it did and did not do.
The Big Read
Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones are examining in detail the background and the implications of this week’s big RPZ announcement.
Ellen Coyne has an interview with a grieving mother who has serious questions for Children’s Health Ireland.
And, of course, Miriam Lord’s Saturday column.
Hear here
Friday’s Inside Politics podcast looks at Minister for Housing James Browne’s announcement of plans to change the rules around rent pressure zones (RPZs). Will the Government’s gamble on investment pay off? And why was the roll-out so haphazard?
