Rents have been too high for a long time. Why?
Sentiment score: 0.00
It is because there is a shortage of supply.
Sentiment score: -0.25
The Deputies have had their chance. With respect, they should allow democracy to take place.
Sentiment score: 0.43
The one thing I observed in the presentation by Deputy McDonald was the absence of any solution, the absence of any idea except to ban rent hikes-----
Sentiment score: -0.32
-----which will destroy supply. Any international organisation analysing the rental market or any property market has said time and again that rent controls or the freezing of rents just reduces supply, kills the market for the long term and will keep prices at too high a level. The Housing Commission recommended that we had to change the rental situation in terms of the rent pressure zones.
Sentiment score: -0.41
Again, Sinn Féin Members are interrupting and again they do not have either the manners or the cop-on to listen to some rational arguments on this question.
Sentiment score: -0.60
With the greatest of respect, Deputy, you went off to Davy Stockbrokers. You went off to all that gang before the election and we saw the incoherence of your response.
Sentiment score: 0.40
Again, recommendations for reform came from the Housing Commission, the ESRI, and the Housing Agency.
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The bottom line was this. What was in place could not be sustained. Equally, it is about supply-----
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In terms of our proposals and what is happening, we had 36,000 additional houses last year. Supply ultimately will moderate rent increases.
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Daft.ie data is asking prices. It is not the complete data set for the entire rental market in the country. Deputies should know that. That is the bottom line. The asking prices are usually greater than usual. The Central Statistics Office, in its monthly change analysis, showed a figure of 0.3% in quarter 1 of 2026. The Residential Tenancies Board covers the entire population of tenancies, which is about 246,000. With daft.ie, it could be as low as 2,300 tenancies. We have to treat the daft.ie data with care in terms of any proper, comprehensive analysis of the rental market. The latest RTB data shows continued growth in quarter 1 of 2026, with 246,000 tenancies. That is the highest on record. There are more tenancies and properties available.
Sentiment score: 0.10
There is no doubt that, with the change, there was going to be an impact on the market. There was no question about that. It was actually said at the time by various agencies. The bottom line is that there had to be certainty given to the landscape because we are spending about €9 billion of State money. The direct State intervention in the housing market is around €9 billion. The Central Bank says we need about €20 billion. We need a combination of public sector and private sector investment in housing. That means a long-term certainty in terms of the rental market. I looked at all the Opposition parties' proposals before the election and all their manifestos. They are very poor in terms of analysis.
Sentiment score: -0.05
They are very poor.
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They are shocking.
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All Sinn Féin offered the last time was a house without the land. Actually, Deputies may feign a laugh-----
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-----but I would challenge anybody-----
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What has been unacceptable is that there has been a deliberate attempt to interrupt and heckle.
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I did not interrupt Deputy McDonald.
Sentiment score: 0.26
With the greatest respect, it is just plain stupid to go on about the greatest evictions since the Famine. That is not being serious about our housing problems.
Sentiment score: 0.24
We have a housing crisis here but all I see from the Opposition-----
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All I see from the Opposition, Sinn Féin in particular, is empty rhetoric, no solutions and the usual sloganeering. That will not build houses. I have a document here with all the objections of those parties' representatives. They objected to housing project after housing project.
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I understand this is about politics and electoral politics. What I am determined to do-----
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No, it is not.
Sentiment score: -0.30
Deputy Ó Broin is empty in terms of policy formulation.
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You are empty on substance, Deputy Ó Broin. You have no substance when it comes to housing.
Sentiment score: -0.25
You have no substance whatsoever and the proof of the pudding was in the last election when people did not buy your pig in a poke. You got it wrong and your party knows you got it wrong.
Sentiment score: -0.42
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist phráinneach seo a ardú. Aontaím léi go bhfuil an méid foréigean i gcoinne ban sa tír seo uafásach. I thank the Deputy for raising this extremely important issue. What we witnessed yesterday in terms of the revelations in the court case involving Paul Moody was quite shocking and horrendous and the level of abuse evident in that case made for extremely difficult hearing and reading. Equally shocking are the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's reports on the use of its national helpline. It was contacted 24,000 times, a 5.5% increase on the previous year, and its annual report outlines unprecedented levels of demand. As the Deputy, in fairness, acknowledged, over the past three or four years, there has been a sea-change in how the Government has approached this issue in terms of the establishment of Cuan, for which funding now is approximately €80 million, sustaining support for front-line services and accelerating delivery of safe accommodation, with a commitment to provide 280 safe spaces by the end of 2026. Legislatively, the Minister is continuing to introduce various legislation, for example, Jennie's law for a domestic violence register; Valerie's law for the removal of guardianship rights of those convicted of killing partners; and laws to restrict the disclosure of counselling notes in sexual assault court cases. The Minister is pushing the outer limits of legislation to give protection to women and to deal with this. That is real, tangible progress across funding, legislation, prevention and victim support, but we will continue to strengthen those supports for victims and survivors. The domestic violence travel supplement will, I understand, be introduced by the Minister for Social Protection this month, providing free travel when referred by a Cuan-registered agency. I will ask both Ministers to work with the Deputy in terms of any additional funding or ring-fencing funding for any specific purposes. We are open to any constructive proposals on that. We have modernised the legal framework to better protect victims. The engagement of the Family Courts Act 2024, the Criminal Justice Act 2020-----
Sentiment score: -0.02
These have all been significant, and then there is the implementation of the O'Malley report-----
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-----on the journey of the victims.
Sentiment score: -0.32
That reform is under way and is continuing. We have been fairly open to any constructive amendments in respect of the various legislative mechanisms that have been introduced. The Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 will restrict the disclosure of counselling records in sexual offence trials and criminalise the exploitative practice of sex in lieu of rent. The criminal justice Bill of this year will set up a domestic violence register of judgments, which will ensure that convictions for serious domestic violence offences are made public as part of the conviction process. Each Garda division now has a protective services unit focused on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Early intervention is key. There is a broader issue of education and awareness and there are some good programmes, with the GAA and Ruhama, for example, in respect of aspects of this. Operation Encompass, which is a police-led, school-based early intervention approach designed to support children and young people who experience domestic abuse, is in development for Drogheda, County Louth.
Sentiment score: -0.15
On all fronts-----
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-----we are going to proceed with this agenda.
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First of all, again, rents have been too high for far too long. Any economist will say there is only one way to deal with this and it is supply. We need more supply and we need it more rapidly. The Government is taking decisions that will ensure over time we get more supply. It is going to take time and that was said at the time.
Sentiment score: 0.08
With respect, I did not interrupt.
Sentiment score: 0.63
I have not interrupted anybody here. I am going to make this point, and it is a fair point. I have looked at the Deputy's proposals. There is nothing in her proposals that would increase supply over the next three years anything over and above what the Government is doing. In fact, it would be less. I have looked at her State construction company idea. It would be three or four years down the line before anything would come out of that. We already have a Land Development Agency, which has 14,000 in the pipeline. It is time people got real here. It is all very well doing the sloganeering. We all know the crisis out there in housing. The Government is taking decisions in respect of it that have substance behind them. We need to get to 50,000 per annum. I have seen nothing from anywhere across the House outlining how people propose to get there in terms of alternative proposals to what the Government is proposing. We have activated the local authorities, approved housing bodies, the Land Development Agency and, yes, the private sector. The Deputy is totally opposed to the private sector having any role in housing. That is her party's position.
Sentiment score: 0.10
That is the Deputy's party's position. You have said it a lot of times, Deputy Hearne. You have been saying it.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The RTB data shows we have about 246,000 tenancies, the highest on record. In terms of daft.ie data, it indicates asking prices but it is not comprehensive. The RTB does a more comprehensive dataset in terms of the entirety of the market. One has to take these figures with some degree of care, as the author himself acknowledges that the report has to be examined with care. That has to be said. The bottom line here is we want rents to moderate. We want to get them down.
Sentiment score: 0.14
The bottom line is what was happening over the past four to five years prior to the change was not sustainable. The Deputy knows that. The Housing Commission said it was not sustainable. The ESRI said it was not sustainable. Everybody accepted it was not sustainable.
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Therefore certainty had to be given to the market, and also additional protections. In terms of existing tenancies, they have not been impacted in any shape or form by this to the same extent. Again-----
Sentiment score: 0.08
No, they have not been impacted and the Deputy knows that too but that will not get said. We are talking in terms of the newer tenancies here. We need more supply.
Sentiment score: -0.05
Sin an rud is tábhachtaí. Caithfimid i bhfad níos mó tithe a chur ar fáil chomh tapaigh agus is féidir linn agus sin atá faoi chaibidil ag an Rialtas.
Sentiment score: -0.56
I do not think the Social Democrats' proposals are credible. They are so sparse. They are so lacking in detail. They are not fleshed out. I genuinely do not think the Social Democrats' policies on housing are credible. They talk about a savings and investment scheme.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It would take years to implement. They know that.
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The issue here is not funding. The State has put up €9 billion.
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The Deputy knows. Let us talk about the savings and investment scheme that they put forward. How would that bring rents down next year? How would it bring rents down the year after? It would not add one additional supply of housing-----
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----until about four or five years' time, even if they got the additional funding. That is the point I am making. Their housing construction company is so poorly fleshed out-----
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I do not mind having a debate about housing. Let us debate it.
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No, we absolutely did not. We did not.
Sentiment score: -0.15
Just to make the point about research from the RTB. If you compare like with like and apples with apples in respect of the other data reviews that have taken place, it is a far different story in terms of the impact on existing tenancies in particular.
Sentiment score: 0.40
The budget has eased the tax pressure in terms of apartments-----
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-----through the reduction of VAT to 9%. That was a significant measure, which was attacked by large elements of the Opposition at the time. We put huge equity into EirGrid and we have put substantial equity into Irish Water, all designed to accelerate infrastructural development. We did that at the very beginning of the Government through the national development plan and through budget allocations. The investment in water is significant. We have also put significant investment into the Land Development Agency, which has up to €10 billion in available capital for the construction and development of housing. We use every lever and mechanism we can use to get more supply, and it is about more supply. We brought in a rental tax credit to try to ease the pressure on renters because rents are too high and we acknowledge that. The only way to deal with it is to get more houses built and to get more apartments built. We have worked on all aspects of this, from the Critical Infrastructure Bill going through the House now, through the housing activation office, which has been allocated €1 billion to deal with housing enabling infrastructure on the ground to remove barriers and delays to housing, and through the reform of the rental market which simply had to happen and was advised by all concerned. Anybody who examined the market in detail, from the ESRI to the Housing Commission, all said this could not be sustained the way we had it and that we had to change it and create certainty for the long term. It will take time for some of that to yield. The State has already put €9 billion into housing this year alone, which is huge. If we want to get to 50,000 or 60,000 units per annum we need an investment of about €20 billion. This is the challenge facing the country.
Sentiment score: 0.09
We have resourced An Coimisiún Pleanála quite substantially and the feedback now is that far more timely decisions are being taken by An Coimisiún Pleanála in respect of planning permissions. There is a much more positive feel about the changes we brought about some years ago to An Coimisiún Pleanála. The Planning and Development Act is having an impact. Reform to judicial review will also have an impact. This is a multifaceted approach to housing. We are focusing on it and prioritising it. We are not interested in slogans or cheap politics. We are interested in a proper analysis of the housing market and what it will take to get a volume of supply into the future. Yes, infrastructure is a key part of this and water infrastructure in particular. We will continue to work with Irish Water in respect of wastewater treatment plants in smaller developments. There has been some progress on this in terms of nature-based solutions throughout the country, which have approval and which will enable smaller projects in towns and villages to get off the ground.
Sentiment score: 0.26
There is no doubt that population growth is a factor. It went up 8.5% between 2020 and 2025. If we go back to 1995, the population has increased by 52%. There are positives in this because we had been declining up to the 1960s and 1970s as a population down to 3 million. I am not clear on what the Deputy is suggesting. It is not easy to unwind that. There is no question a significant proportion of it is migration into the country. If we look at our health sector and the analysis by CSO recently in terms of employment growth-----
Sentiment score: -0.03
I am interested in the Deputy's debate. I am trying to have a sensible debate about it and not one that gets me attacked because we are having the debate. Please allow me to respond. The bottom line is our health and care sectors are significantly dependent on migration. Look at the financial sector and the technology sector.
Sentiment score: 0.19
We cannot unwind an economy simply by saying no one else is allowed in.
Sentiment score: -0.30
Of course it is a factor. There is no question it is a factor.
Sentiment score: -0.15