The overhaul of residential tenancies legislation was intended to protect tenants through changes to rent controls and the expansion of tenant protections. However, it is very clear that, since the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2025 updates were introduced in June 2025 with the intention of stabilising rent prices, they have created a bigger problem as many tenants have been given notice to quit. It is getting completely out of hand. I am contacted every day by tenants who have got notices to quit and who are wondering where they are going to go. It is very clear that landlords are getting out one way or another. They are not prepared to sign up for a total of six years from March onwards so they are getting out before then. I have been contacted by many people and it seems some small landlords are getting out of the market completely because they do not want to be locked into a rental for six years while others are using this opportunity to renovate their properties and get new tenants at a higher rent after March. I have already been in contact with the Minister regarding the 14 families in the Loreto Chapel estate in Killarney who have received notices to quit from the property owner, the Cypriot property company Xerico Limited, which owns the 14 houses in the estate. I have asked the Minister what can be done for these families because it is very clear that these people are getting out before the March deadline and that these rent controls are having an adverse effect. Supply will drop with these rent controls. Tenants cannot move. If they want to move to Killarney from Tralee, or vice versa, they will not be able to get houses there. We are shrinking the landlord market when we should be increasing it. Last year and the year before, I raised the issue of there being so many vacant properties. House owners and landlords will not rent properties for two reasons: the amount of tax they will have to pay, amounting to more than 50%, and fear they will not get tenants out when they want to get their houses back. I gave the example of 55 houses from Kenmare through Kilgarvan to ten miles down the road to Killarney. They are on the side of the road and each and every one of them can be reached by bus, but the owners will not rent them because of the two reasons I have given. The Government should have been doing something about that rather than shrinking supply, meaning we will not have houses for other people. There are many people who would build a house if they could get planning permission in Kerry. They cannot do so. There are many who would buy a house but cannot because the prices are exorbitant. They are confined to renting in the private market. We need the private market as well as public housing, including social housing. People cannot get on the social housing list because of the income cap, which is €37,000. If they exceed this, they will not be left on the housing list. It is the divine right of a house owner to do what they want to do with the house and they should not be made to something they do not want to do. The Government will not succeed in this. The housing officials in the Department of housing who came up with this idea did not do any good for tenants and would-be tenants in the first place, and they are doing no good for the Government because it is putting it down in the ratings. I know this because people are fed up. They cannot rent houses. We are shrinking the market and will have far fewer houses to go around.

Sentiment score: 0.03

I thank the Minister of State very much for being here so late at night. I know she will relay my concerns to the Minister. Many people, including me do not believe it is fair to lock a landlord into a rental agreement for six years. This failed in Scotland, where the authorities have gone back to the arrangement they had in 2016. I am concerned about the Minister of State’s figures because, to me, having been a public representative in Kerry for over 20 years, I have never seen the like of what is happening, including to the 14-house estate in Killarney, and there are many more of those. Day after day, I hear about affected girls with one or two children and couples with two or three children. Every day, they ask where they should go. I am afraid this will blow up altogether in the next couple of months because everyone is sending out notices so they will be clear for 1 March. That is my concern and why I have raised this matter today. I am afraid that what is proposed will not work. I have the history. There is no stir on the 55 houses along the road from Kenmare through Kilgarvan to Killarney. The reason is the owners will not enter agreements because they are afraid they will not get their houses back. Another reason is that they would have to pay half the rental income in tax if they had some other income. This will affect the people with one, two or three houses. They will not be bothered to go ahead with renting as soon as the existing tenancies end. They will be out of the market. Whatever they do with the houses, they will not rent them at all. That is what I am hearing from them. They will forget about renting privately, whatever else they do. The Department has to review this because it is not fair. Will tenants be locked into the six-year agreement? I know that the tenants want to move around too. They have to follow their jobs, but they cannot continue to travel. We know the cost of travelling, and we are told about carbon emissions and all that. Will the Minister of State look at this issue again, particularly as what is happening is hurting a lot of people?

Sentiment score: -0.01