You are.
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You are.
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Well below the market rate.
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I asked a question about a Government press release.
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Thanks, Ceann Comhairle. This is an incredible, brazen display by the Taoiseach. It really is.
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Three times now the Taoiseach has been asked effectively the same question. I am going to ask it again. It is not clear to me if the Taoiseach does not understand his Government's proposal, he is misleading the House about his Government's proposal or the press statement issued by the Minister, Deputy Browne's Department is inaccurate. The Taoiseach needs to clarify for us which it is, because not just once or twice but about five or six times now he has said existing tenants will be capped at 2%, new tenancies will be capped at CPI and that these are the strongest set of rent protection measures we have ever had. The truth is, if the press statement is accurate, that the Government is absolutely gutting the rent pressure zones. It gets its nice headlines that say rent pressure zones are to extended to the whole country in a significant expansion of tenants' rights when in reality it is getting rid of the rent pressure zones. I will read it for the third time today and very slowly for the Taoiseach: "All landlords will have the right to reset rent where the rent is below market at the end of each six-year tenancy". It is not just new landlords, not just big landlords, not just small landlords, but every single landlord. That means it affects existing tenants and new tenants. If the Minister could inform the Taoiseach what is going on here and what is in the policy, that would be very helpful.
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It is what it says in the press statement. It states: "All landlords". What the Government is therefore saying to existing and new tenants - all of them - is they get the limited protection of the 2% or CPI if it is new, for six years. At six years it is a free for all. Landlords get to reset to market rate. There will be six 2% increases and then 40%, 30% or an unimaginable level that is simply not affordable. That is what the press statement-----
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It is. I will read it again. It does say that. As part of this master of the spin, it also says "Tenancies of unlimited duration to be enhanced by introduction of rolling-six year tenancies ...". That is some enhancement, Taoiseach. You are getting rid of tenancies of unlimited duration and going back to the old system of rolling six-year tenancies. What you are presenting is Orwellian. The logic of this is the Government wants rents to rise. It is not enough that they have doubled over the past ten years. It is not enough that a third of tenants are now paying more than 50% of their net income on rent. It is not enough that more and more landlords are actually coming into the market. The Government wants rents to go up even faster. That is why tenants, renters-----
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-----people who are trying to buy a house, people who are locked out and who are going to be locked out even further-----
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-----are going to be on the streets-----
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-----next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in front of the Dáil as part of-----
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-----a major Raise the Roof mobilisation to stop this Government and its landlord agenda.
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Yes.
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The housing crisis is not new, Taoiseach.
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It is not me suggesting it. The Government's own press statement refers to a right to reset. It is not just in a written press statement; it is also what the Minister, Deputy Browne, told the media. At the press conference earlier he said what happens is that at the end of the six years, the rate-setting piece - effectively the rent - could be put back to the market in line with what the press statement says.
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Which is it?
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So new tenancies are going to be every six years.
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It is not what you said, and it is not what your-----
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Deliberately? You are the one-----
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Taoiseach, you have the press statement.
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The Taoiseach defends the idea that if tenants leave during the six-year period and it is not a no-fault eviction, it can be reset. The Taoiseach is saying he is in favour of that, and it is not a mistake. Any time a tenant leaves, the rent can be reset.
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That is a recipe for rocketing rents. How high does he want rents to go?
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It is also-----
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Let me finish the point. It is also a recipe for constructive evictions, where the landlord says, "I am not going to fix your heating", "I am not going to fix your toilet" and "I am going to force you out so that I can reset the rent." The final thing I ask is for the Taoiseach to agree-----
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-----that when it comes to voting on this, landlords in this Dáil-----
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-----should not have a vote on this measure, given their interest in it.
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No, I did not. I was just pointing this-----
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I believe in a State construction company.
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