Rory Hearne
Dublin North-West · Social Democrats · Ireland
“I thank you, a Leas Cheann-Comhairle, for your work and support during the year and thank all the staff here. I wish my colleagues in government the best of luck over the summer and respite from our robust engagement. We look forward to going at it again in the autumn.”
“The Dublin public will be very upset when they realise their fire fighters and emergency response service are at risk of being split and downgraded.”
“I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. It is important to have a discussion about the context of education costs and back-to-school costs. Of course, the context is massive inequality in this country.”
“However, what it is actually doing is throwing families into even more stress on top of not being able to pay the basic bills. In my constituency to respond and support families struggling with back-to-school costs, the Finglas voluntary food and family support service, Feed Our Homeless, last year organised help for families with a pop-u…”
“A second tier of child benefit would lift 55,000 children out of poverty but the Government will not do it. It costs the same as what it has given in tax breaks to developers, investor funds and large fast-food giants. Childhoods pass quickly. No child should have their future limited by poverty.”
“The Government is ramming through planning legislation this week that will exempt sheds out the back without proper scrutiny. It is satisfied with handing our young people to vulture landlords. The Government is now offering a future of renting a shed out the back with no rights whatsoever.”
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“As I said earlier, the Minister is unfortunately joining a long line of Ministers, including Alan Kelly who was the Minister for housing in 2015 who introduced measures which reduced sizes. We did not see cheaper rents as a result. When the former Minister Eoin Murphy introduced similar measures, we did not see reductions in rents. At what point will the rents fall or be reduced as a result of these measures? It is deeply disappointing that the Government has made more changes that reduce and alter what it is to have a home in this country. A home, the most fundamental need that people have, is supposed to give them sufficient space and light and be a place where they can be themselves, have friends over and start or have a family but that is not what we are going to see built as a result of these regulations.”
“The Government is proposing that young people leave their childhood boxroom in their parents' house where they are stuck to move into another boxroom and pay €3,000 a month for the privilege. Is this a measure that the Government will consider a success? How does it change? How does it reverse? How do we get to a place where people actually have apartments being built for rent at €800 a month? That is what it is in Vienna. Our aspiration, our policy, is to build apartments that cost €3,000 or €4,000 a month. Where does it end? There is no strategy of clawing back this deregulation. Surely the Minister is aware that once they are brought in, they are here to stay.”
“Young people will not be able to afford them. It is an illogical policy because the idea that reducing standards will lead to reduced rents and reduced house and apartment prices is absolutely illogical. Developers and investors will simply pocket the difference because there are no requirements on them. They get to increase the number of units on the development and reduce the size with no requirement to have affordability or to reduce the price. The Government is essentially giving them a blank cheque to charge whatever they want, as it is doing with the rent measures. They can charge whatever they want and the Government will keep making changes for them. Where does it end?”
“Instead there will be more studio and one-bedroom apartments in which, of course, people will be forced to overcrowd to cover the rent. There is callousness and cruelty in this decision. I have raised it here before and was lambasted by a Deputy, who is not here today, for being sanctimonious - I think that was the phrase - for highlighting that there is something in the State's and Fianna Fáil's and Fine Gael's decision-making that it is all right to make decisions which affect future generations once it is not affecting the voter base of those who are living in a house now. Of course, they are failing to see that their voter base is increasingly older people whose children cannot move out and cannot afford to move out. Why is the Government doing this? It is to have more units built which are unaffordable.”
“ALONE which works with elderly people agreed with that at the time because the people who were living in one-bedroom apartments and one bedroom units - bedsits at the time - were vulnerable and older people. They actually need things like light and space. Increasingly with one-parent families, we see the need for space for children to come over at different points in their lives. Essentially the Minister is saying that having light and space is a luxury not a necessity, which is just not true. The units that will be built - if they are built at all - as a result of the changes will be smaller and darker. They will lack the space that we see in other European cities. As a result of this, fewer two-bedroom and three-bedroom units will be built in developments.”
“What is the smallest apartment the Minister of State has ever lived in? What was it like when he was living there? The idea that young people can slum it for a while in a dark small shoebox and build up to something better is deeply disturbing in many ways. The expectation is that young people and not-so-young people, people in their 20s, 30s, 40s or increasingly their 50s, will live in dark cramped shoeboxes. Those who are making this decision are not living in small apartments. They are likely to be living in houses. The reality is that it is one law and one set of housing for one group of people, while for the generations coming up behind, for those who cannot afford to buy a home and are forced to rent, it is a completely different standard. We got rid of bedsits for a reason.”
“I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister for housing come into the Dáil for a debate and questions on apartment standards and future homes. They are going to have profoundly negative implications for generations to come, condemning generations to living in dark shoe boxes-----”
“When asked whether the EU should suspend trade with Israel, 76% of Irish people polled said "Yes". When asked whether the occupied territories Bill should be passed, 74% of those polled said "Yes". The Government's mandate is there and this is a critical juncture in our international humanity's history. The Government needs to pass the Bill before the summer recess. The latest United Nations report names hundreds of corporations, banks, technology firms, universities, pension funds and charities that are profiting from the Israeli occupation and genocide. The report details how Israel's economy has transformed from an economy of settler occupation to an economy of genocide. Ireland can no longer participate, engage with, legitimise or fund this economy. It is time to pass the occupied territories Bill in full.”
“This is despite the people of Ireland giving them a clear message in the election and every day outside the Dáil and on our streets that they want Ireland to stand up for peace and humanity by sanctioning Israel. We cannot wait for our European partners in this. We must stand up now for the people of Gaza. Ireland must be courageous and sanction Netanyahu's murderous, genocidal regime. Ireland must give hope to the idea of universal human rights, that every person on this planet has an equal right to a dignified life. Palestinians, the people of Gaza have as equal a right to life and dignity as everyone else on this planet. What have the people of Ireland made clear? When asked whether Israel's ongoing military action in Gaza amounts to genocide, 86% of people polled said "Yes".”
“Real action would be passing the occupied territories Bill in full. This would send a strong clear message to Israel. It is a message it has not heard, that there are consequences for the war crimes and the genocidal hell it is unleashing on the people of Gaza. This is the problem. We fail to see countries having the courage to stand up to Israel and it is a shame and a stain on our collective humanity that Israel has not been sanctioned by any European country for its mass murder of women and children in Gaza. What a collective failure of the European project of peace and solidarity. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael committed in their programme for Government 160 days ago to progress legislation on the occupied Palestinian territories. That is 160 opportunities they have had to implement the Bill and they have not done so.”
“I echo my colleagues' sentiments and statements on this. The people of Gaza do not have time left for this Government's dithering and delaying on the implementation of the occupied territories Bill. Seventeen thousand children have been murdered in Gaza by the Israeli genocidal regime. Right now, millions of people in Gaza are being starved to death. They are being shot and murdered while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families. Each day that passes while Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael drag their feet on implementing the occupied territories Bill is another day of lost opportunity for Ireland to be a global leader for humanity by sanctioning Israel. Each day the Government makes more excuses, waters down the Bill and fails to implement it in full, including services, is another day lost when Ireland could be taking real action.”
“Will Dublin City Council and local authorities in counties Wicklow, Sligo and Louth, which were due to deliver through PPPs, be allocated the funding to deliver them through direct build, as should have been the case originally?”
“The Minister did not answer how many value for money assessments were undertaken before the final decision was made. How was it let get to this point where he now says it is too expensive? Public-private partnerships involve lifetime maintenance costs and not just the delivery cost. I have been heavily critical of this model of delivery of social housing. The Minister still has not answered the question: is this the end of PPPs for future bundles? Up to 3,000 homes were planned to be delivered through PPPs. What is the Department’s plan for those? Are they now scrapped as public-private partnerships? Will they be delivered by new ways? If so, will the original timeframe be maintained?”
“It has confounded and upset many people in communities where these social housing projects were due to be delivered. Two are in my constituency, Ballymun and Whitehall. These areas have high levels of social housing need. It is deeply upsetting and disappointing. Can the Minister guarantee they will be delivered according to the original planned timeframe? I wrote my PhD and a book 14 years ago critiquing the public-private partnership model as an expensive model that would lead to delays. Unfortunately, Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael did not listen to me or the proposals we made. Will the Minister clarify whether this is the end of the PPP model for delivering social housing?”
“The Minister will be well aware that he and his Department decided to withdraw funding for up to 500 social homes that were due to be delivered through public-private partnerships. Will he set out the rationale that underpins that decision and give detail on it? How many value for money assessments were undertaken before the final decision was made? Will he outline the measures to ensure the 3,000 social homes set to be delivered as PPPs will be delivered as social housing in the original timeframes?”
“I visited one school that was doing incredible work to create a school in which every student could get support. I saw the parents bringing children with additional needs in and the struggles they faced. I saw the work the principals and the support teachers were putting in. As the teachers, the parents and the principals described to me, they are at absolute breaking point. The Minister of State can say the Government is providing additional places and additional resources, but they are not enough. Come September, we are again going to see children without school places. We are going to see a school system at breaking point in terms of providing supports for children with additional needs and all other children in these schools in classes, because they are all affected. We still need to address this system properly.”
“The failure to implement key parts of the EPSEN Act shows that, while we remain a republic that has a proclamation that sets out to cherish all children equally, we are a republic of inequality when it comes to children with additional needs and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are not getting the education they have a constitutional right to and all the broad elements that requires. I am contacted by schools in my constituency that are facing severe difficulties with endless SET reviews, SNA reviews and the cutting of SNA positions and SNA supports. We know there are SNAs who could be employed by schools in this country, yet we have SENOs and the NCSE making decisions to cut SNAs and not allocate sufficient additional educational needs supports within schools.”
“The Government is creating an artificial scarcity because it is saying the State cannot do any more. There are billions sitting in surplus. Why are we not allocating that to housing? The Government says no, the private sector has do it. The Government could hire the builders to build it, develop the capacity of local authorities and do it. We have the money to do it. I thank the Deputies for bringing forward the motion today. We tabled an amendment in that we believe that local authorities should be giving the funding rather than putting in penal measures. We have seen that in other situations and it has not worked. Broadly, we absolutely agree that this is an emergency and we need a change.”
“The Minister for housing must urgently clarify why ready to go PPP housing bundles were suspended without a backup plan; whether the funding will be restored to essential homelessness prevention tools like tenant in situ; and how the Government expects to meet its targets with no infrastructural investment set out very clearly for Uisce Éireann, the local authorities and the Land Development Agency. There is no serious plan and the funding allocated is still inadequate. The Taoiseach says in the House that we are not putting forward solutions. We have put forward solutions. The homes for Ireland State saving scheme is a way to divert €160 billion in savings into funding affordable housing. Rather than going to vulture funds, we could be doing this. We could be funding the local authorities and not-for-profit housing bodies.”
“The scheme is a vital homelessness prevention measure. At the housing committee yesterday, we heard representatives from the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive say very clearly that the cuts and changes to the tenant in situ scheme is likely to result in people made homeless this year. This is because Dublin City Council and other local authorities across the country have said they have suspended the tenant in situ scheme because of the changes brought in. They do not have sufficient funding this year. We will see families and individuals evicted from their homes where it could have been prevented. The councils could have bought the properties but we are not seeing that happen.”
“This has gone from incompetence to sabotage. That is what it feels like for the communities across Dublin and across this country who were due to get social housing built. The flaws in the public-private partnership model have been highlighted by myself and others for years. I have researched it and written about it. It is an inflexible process. It is expensive but the Government had brought it to the end line. It should have just delivered those projects and said the State would deliver the rest of them directly. Now we have almost 3,000 social homes in complete limbo. What is going to happen? The Minister needs to intervene directly. This is an absolute scandal and it needs to be highlighted. Not only has the Government cut these social housing building programmes, it has also gutted the tenant in situ scheme.”
“How does the Minister of State think that makes people feel - people in Ballymun, Finglas, Whitehall, Kildare, Wicklow and Sligo, and the councillors and councils who put massive work into developing these projects? In fact, the Government spent €8 million on developing these projects. Contractors had almost been appointed. The not-for-profit housing bodies had been brought on board. It is absolutely confounding as to how this decision was made. The Minister for housing has yet to answer as to why these projects were pulled at the last minute when they were about to deliver social housing projects. I ask the Minister of State to bring it back to Cabinet and raise this issue. How the hell were social housing projects that were about to start on site pulled at the last minute? It is beyond comprehension. We talk about incompetence.”
“No monetary cost can measure the impact on these children as they grow up in hotel rooms, scarred for life by living in inappropriate accommodation. Let us go back to the basics: infrastructure, Uisce Éireann, our national water utility, our local authorities, the ESB and land aggregation. The basics required to deliver housing have not been prioritised, delivered or funded. At the same time, in a bizarre, almost GUBU moment, the Government has suspended a delivery project that was going to build almost 500 social homes, almost 200 of which are in my constituency, through public-private partnerships. They were ready to start on site in the coming weeks but the Minister has pulled the plug on them. Almost 3,000 social homes are now in jeopardy.”
“We do not even know how many children have gone through emergency accommodation. The response was that those children can never get the childhood back that they lost in emergency accommodation. Right now, there are 4,775 children growing up in emergency accommodation. I do not believe the Minister of State or anyone in the Government really accepts that is okay. It is not okay. Unfortunately, this and the previous Government's policies have normalised it and accepted it. I can make it very clear that we are not accepting it. When we look at this housing crisis, the Government's priorities are totally out of whack. Instead of funding the tenant in situ scheme, the Government is continuing to put families up in emergency accommodation, which is costing up to €180,000 each year per family.”
“The housing crisis is no longer a crisis; it is a social catastrophe. It is an emergency, as the Government has accepted. However, Government actions - cutting key housing projects, suspending funding and gutting homelessness prevention schemes - tell a very different story. Instead of rising to meet this catastrophe, the Government is failing time and time again. That is because its policies created this crisis. We had yesterday at the housing committee the Ombudsman for Children, who highlighted again the national shame that is almost 5,000 children in homelessness. I said it was a scandal and asked if he thinks there will be a redress scheme in the future for children who have gone through emergency accommodation in this country. It is over 10,000 children.”
“The Department of Education and Youth and the Government are failing these children by not providing adequate and sufficient school facilities. They are also failing the wider community. There is great demand for this school in the wider constituency. When will Clonturk Community College get confirmation of funding and a commitment to timely delivery?”
“I will raise an issue I have highlighted here before. We know of the growing need and demand for co-educational Educate Together schools. One such school in my own constituency is Clonturk Community College in Dublin 9. It is a co-educational Educate Together school. It is a fantastic school with over 1,000 students. My eldest son attended the school and had a great experience there. However, the school is unfortunately stuck in temporary facilities that are unsuitable. For a number of years, the school has been promised a new building through the accelerated delivery programme but it has been left in limbo. There is no clear timeline or date for delivery. We are now at the end of the school year and the school community, parents, pupils and staff are facing into another year without confirmation of funding or progress made.”
“It is a shame that it is making renters, students and workers pay for its policy failures. Why will the Government not implement our homes for Ireland State savings proposal, which could leverage the €160 billion held in Irish accounts to build thousands of affordable homes, the type of supply our young people need and want? Why will it not make the equivalent of a Covid-period response to this housing crisis, which is now a complete and utter social catastrophe?”
“The Central Bank housing figures, out today, show with terrifying clarity the housing disaster that the Government’s policies have created. Not only did the Government mislead the public in the election by stating 40,000 homes would be built last year but it will not reach anywhere near 40,000 homes this year or next year. It is also pulling the plug on social housing projects due to commence on site in the coming weeks. These figures show that the biggest blockage to solving the housing crisis is this Government’s policies. The Government is delusional in thinking that allowing rents to rise even higher will solve this crisis. It is clearly disconnected from the reality of the generational anxiety, despair and social division that his policies are causing.”
“We do not have a culture that means that renters feel empowered. Unfortunately, renters will not feel more empowered with these measures. That is the unfortunate reality. Renters know that rents can be increased to the market rate, as Mike Allen said.”
“Smaller landlords, however, whom hundreds of thousands of renters will go through in the coming years, will not have the same no-fault eviction obligations. Is it legal to have a form of legal protection for one set of renters and none for another set? Is there an element of discrimination to that? I do not know, but what is clear is that it will provide a lower level of security of tenure for tenants of smaller landlords. That will be the reality. As I said earlier, we know that there are thousands of landlords every year who breach and break the rental laws. They do it through illegal evictions and illegal rent hikes. The Government is now leaving loopholes open for them where they will be able to continue to engage in forms of breaking the law because there is not sufficient enforcement or regulation.”
“What that means is the Government has removed the rent cap for new build apartments and linked it to inflation. If inflation goes to 3%, 4%, 5% or 20%, the rent will increase to that level. There will be a different rental regime for those new renters. As I said earlier, it will pull up the ladder for those renters and for others who are trying to find a rental property. We are not sowing confusion or misleading anyone; that is what the Government is doing and what it has presented. On that basis, I support these amendments. As I said earlier, there is a gap with regard to the protection from eviction. Renters will have no-fault eviction protection when renting from large landlords - those with four or more properties - and corporate landlords.”
“We know they have been lobbying really hard and that getting rid of the intertenancy cap was one of the key things. The Government is removing it with these measures. The Government will be removing the intertenancy rent cap. That is not us sowing confusion; that is us being straight. The Government needs to be honest and straight with people that it is removing some of the rent regulation, namely, removing the intertenancy rent cap. That will lead to higher rents. Renters, as they leave tenancies, and young people, as leave their homes to try to enter the rental market, will be facing higher rents in new tenancies. As I said, institutional investors were looking to get rid of the intertenancy rent cap and to increase rent in line with inflation. The Government is bringing that in for new apartments that have commenced from last week.”
“Okay. That is what the Government has set out. When a tenant leaves the property and a new tenant comes in, the rent will be able to increase to market rent. That is one of the Government's clear incentives. It is not true for the Government to say it is protecting renters, because those new renters who are trying to find properties have to then pay the market rent. That is where this will lead. As the Housing Agency said very clearly, this will lead to higher average rents across the board. That is a really important measure for institutional investors. I am not saying that; the institutional investors have been arguing and lobbying for it for years. Pat Farrell, the head of Irish Institutional Property, has been in and out and he is a former Fianna Fáil chairperson.”
“The Government will bring in this change from 1 March. The situation currently is that when a renter leaves a property, be it voluntarily or through an eviction notice - a notice to quit - on the basis of sale or a family member, and a new tenant comes in, the rent charged to the new tenant coming in is still only 2% higher than the existing rent when they get their rent increase. What the Government is changing is that when a new tenant comes into that property, the landlord will be able to increase the rent to the market rent. Is that correct? "Yes" or "No". The Minister does not know.”
“If it was, it would have announced it immediately as part of the overall announcement. As I said, there is a hole in the middle of the Minister's argument that he is protecting renters. If the Government were protecting renters, and that is the sole outcome of these measures, then where is the incentive for more supply? Where is the incentive for landlords to stay in the market? If the Government is doing this with the singular purpose of protecting renters, which means ensuring rents cannot increase further and that renters have protection from eviction, it would not have any measures that incentivise supply through these measures. However, the truth is there are incentives for supply as the Government has set out in its legislation, the most significant of which is the intertenancy change in rent caps.”
“We have put forward solutions. The Social Democrats has put forward a number of solutions. I have written books on it. To say we have not put forward solutions is just untrue. The Minister should be more honest and say he disagrees with our proposals and on what is put forward and outline why. There is a hole in the Minister's argument. We are separating what has been brought forward today and what will be brought forward in the coming months. We are not opposing what the Government is bringing forward today on the basis that renters need that protection immediately. It is as a result of the changes it is bringing forward in the coming months from March that this emergency legislation is needed and we called for it. I do not believe the Government was planning to bring it forward.”
“I speak in favour of the amendments as put forward. The Minister is trotting out this line, as the Taoiseach has, that we have no solutions. That is utter crap and he knows it. I have emailed him with the homes for Ireland State savings scheme proposal. It is not correct that we have not put forward solutions. He might disagree with them-----”
“If one had applied the 2% cap, they would only have increased by 10%. That is what renters will be facing. They will face multiple percentages of increases in their rent if they have to change their tenancy and move, or if they are trying to move out of their childhood bedroom where half a million people are stuck trying to find somewhere to rent. It is deeply disappointing that we have not seen the change in direction that is so badly needed. People will be out on the streets of Cork in their hundreds and thousands this weekend. They will be out again for the CATU demonstration on 5 July and there will be more protests, because people have had enough.”
“I do not know whether it is in the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael psyche but there is something of pulling up the ladder behind them in this. There is a mentality of protecting those who are there. It is like they would protect the property prices of the homeowners but whoever came after would be sacrificed because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael wanted a short-term political benefit. How is it acceptable to hand our younger generations over to the institutional funds, which will be able to charge whatever rent they want? Inflation is what the rent will be linked to. We will see the new market rents they will be able to raise rents to, given that these tenancies change every couple of years. When one looks at the percentage change since 2020 and Covid, market rents have increased by 43%.”
“They are blocking ideas like the homes for Ireland State saving scheme, which could be putting billions of euro into delivering affordable homes, never mind using the budget surplus to directly fund local authorities, not-for-profit housing bodies and the Land Development Agency to immediately fast-track the projects they could be delivering. Regarding this Bill, we are in favour of extending rent pressure zones across the country. We facilitated this in the housing committee yesterday and we will not oppose it being moved. On the basis of what is coming forward, though, we are clear that we will be opposing the legislation the Government is planning to bring in the coming months that will essentially make sacrificial lambs of renters in this country, particularly the younger generations.”
“I said at the Raise the Roof protest outside the Dáil yesterday that all we heard from the Government was this talk about how it wanted to remove barriers and blockages to housing when the biggest blockage to solving the housing disaster was actually this Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Lowry-backed Independent Government. They are the ones blocking schemes like the social housing projects due to start in Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Sligo and the tenant in situ scheme, which was preventing people from being made homeless.”
“They are more expensive than just building the home, but we do not come along at the very end when diggers are literally about to start digging sites and homes are starting to be built and say we are pulling it. What will happen is no homes will be built there for a year or longer, and the Government has not even come with an alternative. It is a shameful decision that needs to be reversed. We should not be surprised when this is the same Government that gutted the tenant in situ scheme. Dublin City Council informed me, when I asked on behalf of constituents who were facing eviction into homelessness, that it would no longer be purchasing properties this year where the tenant was facing eviction because it did not have the funding from the Department of housing. This is truly criminal.”
“Some 500 social homes were ready to be built, with 280 due to start on site in the coming weeks. These were social homes in areas of the country that needed them most, but at the last minute, the Minister for housing pulled the funding from these projects. Some 500 social homes were pulled overnight. How can a Government justify cutting funding for social housing in the middle of an emergency? It is down to a lack of understanding. My understanding is that the Minister pulled the funding because the Government said those homes were too expensive. Of course they were too expensive. They are public-private partnership homes that include in the price the overall life cost of maintaining the properties.”
“If we said to people that here was a scheme and, if they put their deposits into it, they would help solve the housing crisis, I guarantee that there would be billions of euro in those accounts within a year. People across this country would say "Yes" and that they wanted their deposits to help solve the housing crisis. It is disingenuous of the Taoiseach and this Government to say week after week that the Opposition comes with no solutions or alternatives. Here is a solution and alternative, yet we see no move at all on it. Other steps, such as taxing vacant and derelict properties, are half measures by the Government and not serious. I wish to raise the issue of social housing projects, almost 180 of which are in Ballymun and Whitehall in my constituency.”
“That is why we have regulation and need public housing and why relying on institutional investors to provide a key source of supply of housing is a wrong-headed measure. There are clear alternatives to this. We have proposed the homes for Ireland State saving scheme, which could leverage some of the €160 billion in private bank accounts. This could funnel billions of euro into not-for-profit housing bodies and local authorities to directly deliver affordable homes to buy and rent. The Taoiseach says it will take years to set up. Of course it will take years if the Government keeps delaying it and does not actually do it. If Government started doing it today, we could get it moving relatively quickly.”
“The Government should at least have the decency and honesty to accept that it is making renters pay for the investor funds to incentivise - the illogicality of it - their supply of rental housing. When will the investor funds reduce rents? At what point will institutional investors that want to charge €4,000 per month for a three-bedroom apartment reduce rents? At what point will Greystar, Kennedy Wilson, IRES REIT and the other landlords reduce rents? It is delusional thinking. It is market logic that does not apply because the housing system is not a market like milk, cars or commodities. The housing system operates from the fundamental point that people need a home and will pay whatever they can to try to get one. The market fails over and over in housing.”
“Now, it is misleading the public again with the claim that existing renters will not face rent increases. Of course they will when the tenancy ends and they must find a new tenancy. Of course they will when they are evicted from their home, which landlords will still be able to do. Of course they will if they must move around the country for their jobs. They will face higher rents because the Housing Agency, which did the report that underlined the Government's decision, said clearly that average rents would rise. Will the Government be honest with the public and say that this measure will lead to higher rents? It will and there is no getting away from that.”
“The key public servants we need - the nurses, teachers and doctors - now face a situation where they will be forced to pay higher rents as they engage in their placements and in the early years of their work. It is no wonder we cannot get teachers for our schools and they are leaving in their thousands for Australia and other parts of the world. What will happen to rents? The Government said that rents would fall at some point. I have asked a question but we have not heard the answer. When are rents going to fall? The Government completely misled the public in the election by claiming it had turned the corner on housing. The truth is it manipulated the figures and knew the claim that 40,000 homes would be built was just another failed housing target.”
“This issue was raised yesterday at the Raise the Roof protest outside Leinster House, where hundreds of people took part, highlighting the devastating impact of the housing crisis. I was talking to nurses and teachers on that protest who highlighted that, when they must shift placement or job in their training and education, they face a new rent, market rent and tenancy. It is similar for students. In another example of the disrespect shown towards our younger generations, students and key workers, the Minister initially said students would be protected, but now they will not be protected in the open market. How is this a serious policy when Government will not even do what it says it will do? The key workers I mentioned were hearing that we needed GPs, but GPs have very short placements and must move around.”