I thank the Deputy. Fair play to him for advocating, especially on behalf of those who are coming in to him in desperation and looking for a house to rent. I understand the frustration. We all have it in our constituencies. I will try to outline what the Government is trying to do to free up rental accommodation. Ireland's new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, is a wide-ranging action plan focused on housing supply and targeting homelessness. The plan contains a suite of actions that will increase the supply of much-needed rental accommodation, by keeping existing landlords in the market and attracting new landlords, while ensuring strong and balanced tenancy protections for tenants and landlords. The Government is establishing a more robust legal and policy framework to support increased investment in the rental market, to increase the choice for renters and, over time, reduce market rents. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 is currently passing through the Houses of the Oireachtas. To support an increase in available rental accommodation, the Government has also brought forward key measures, including a revised national planning framework enabling the zoning of significantly more land, and the revision of design standards for apartments. These measures, along with a reduced VAT rate of 9% on apartments announced as part of budget 2026, are focused on unlocking the delivery of apartments that is key to increasing the supply of rental properties. The Government is also continuing the development of cost rental as a new tenure type, which means providing homes to tenants at least 25% below market rent by providing significant levels of funding support to the Land Development Agency, LDA, approved housing bodies, AHBs, and local authorities. While it has been asserted that landlords are leaving the rental market, the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, director's report shows that while 5,405 notices of termination were received by the RTB in quarter 3 of 2025, 18,425 new tenancy registrations were also confirmed for the same period. This figure serves to highlight the consistent churn within the rental market. The Deputy suggests using the tenant in situ scheme to address the scarcity of rental accommodation. The tenant in situ scheme, as has been referred to, is an acquisitions programme specifically in respect of those who are at risk of homelessness and already qualify for social housing support such as the housing assistance payment, HAP. The Deputy has outlined many of those situations. Some €375 million was provided last year for local authority acquisitions. It is an emergency measure and should only be used by local authorities as a last resort when all other options to prevent homelessness have been exhausted. Our focus must be on constructing new social homes but I note that significant funding will be provided through our acquisition programme of second-hand homes for those at risk of homelessness, again under the 2026 programme, as a response to short-term pressures, affording local authorities the flexibility needed to respond while they scale up their construction programmes. The Deputy also suggested the vacant property refurbishment grant could be used to address the scarcity of rental accommodation. This scheme provides a grant of up to €50,000 for the refurbishment of homes that have been vacant for at least two years and up to €70,000 where it is a derelict property. It is available in respect of homes for occupation as a principal private residence and properties that would be made available for rent. It, therefore, increases the supply of homes available to rent and it could address the issue of the plethora of vacant houses the Deputy referred to. In providing a grant to support the refurbishment of vacant and derelict properties, individual landlords, who without the support of the grant would not be able renovate and turn these disused properties into homes for rent, are being incentivised. It has become a vital affordable support, particularly in more rural areas where supply of new housing is not readily available. It is also supporting the regeneration of towns and villages and areas of our cities, as well as supporting environmental objectives. I look forward to hearing more of what the Deputy has to say about this issue.

Sentiment score: 0.29

The proposal on modular homes or small units in back gardens or on the premises of existing homes will come forward shortly. It is really important. It will be an exemption for a certain size of dwelling to allow young people in particular, who want to start off with a home, to build with an exemption so they do not have to go through the arduous planning process. As a west Cork TD, I completely agree with the Deputy about the challenges young people are facing in getting planning permission to build on their land. They have to go through obstacles and barriers and it causes them frustration and headaches and in many cases they are not successful. That has to change. In the next while, we will bring forward the national planning statement, which I hope will address many of those issues. I will address another issue that has been topical in recent weeks. The Deputy spoke about the number of vacant homes and properties not in use throughout the year. The whole aim of the short-term letting legislation, which is being brought in and which has been controversial - and I can see why - is to try to bring more property into rental accommodation. The constituents the Deputy has coming into his office and I have coming into my office are struggling to get rental accommodation because they go onto daft.ie or these rental sites and there is nothing to rent. The whole idea is that we get some of these houses back into the rental market and that will release a pressure valve. The Deputy is from Kerry and I am from west Cork; we rely on tourism and on tourism accommodation. It is important we have these short-term lets available for the tourism sector. There is no doubt about that. Someone recently referenced a figure to me that in the region of 6,000 units were available for short-term lets in the west Cork area. If we could even get about 200 of them back into the rental market, imagine the pressure that would take off? I understand the need for short-term letting. I understand people have been doing this for years and we have to clarify the planning requirements but this provides an opportunity to allow people to rent long term, which is a big issue is places like Kerry and west Cork.

Sentiment score: 0.01

You are talking about lack of rental accommodation though.

Sentiment score: -0.32