I echo the Ceann Comhairle's sentiments entirely. I also welcome to the Public Gallery the delegation from Donegal who are here today to save the flights accommodating cancer patients from the county. I understand they have gathered some 15,000 signatures for their petition over recent days. It is a disgrace that they have to come here to fight that fight but I commend them on their efforts and wish them every success. It is a decision that needs to be reversed. The Government is set to throw renters to the wolves. Today, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will push through their rent hikes Bill and it will be devastating. Previously, in rent pressure zones, any increase was set at the rate of inflation or 2%, whichever was lower, but the Government is tearing that up and opening up the floodgates. From 1 March, it will allow rent for new tenancies to be reset to the full market rate. This is a hammer blow for ripped-off renters and a gift for big landlords and vulture funds. It will mean huge rent hikes, increased pressure for renters, more young people forced to choose between emigrating and moving home with their parents and, shamefully, it will mean more families and children pushed into homelessness. Up to 60,000 renters will be hit by a huge rent hike every single year. That is the hard truth. Of course, the Government's defence of the Bill is that six-year tenancies will protect renters, but they will not. A total of 25% of tenancies in any given year are new tenancies, with people moving in and moving on all the time. Most tenancies last three and a half years, not six. The majority of renters will be hit quickly, and hit again and again, and very few will escape these hikes. It will be a nightmare for people who feel they have to stay put for fear of having to pay a hugely increased rent on a new tenancy. It will be a nightmare for students, apprentices, trainees, nurses, teachers and anyone who moves frequently for work or education. A total of 7,000 Irish medical professionals were registered to work in Australia last year. If the Government's Bill goes through, we will lose many more because the rent hikes will be off the charts. In Galway city, for example, renters will fork out €5,292 more per annum. Here in Dublin, an extra €3,516 a year will be due. In Cork city, in the Taoiseach's neck of the woods, renters will pay an extra €3,336 a year. These increases are on top of already staggering rents. Nobody will be able to afford these increases; there is not a chance of it. It is straight out of the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael playbook to give a big payday to landlords and vulture funds and screw over ordinary tenants. If they gave a damn about renters at all, they would end this rip-off, not fuel it. They would ban rent increases and make rents affordable. Caithfear stop a chur le Bille Fhianna Fáil agus Fhine Gael chun an cíos a ardú. Níl ann ach bronntanas do na tiarnaí talún móra agus cuirfidh sé níos mó brú ar na tionóntaí. Renters have known for a long time that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael simply do not have their backs. For over a decade now, they have allowed renters to be ripped off relentlessly and mercilessly but they are crossing a big red line here. A Bill to allow rents to be increased by €3,000, €4,000 or €5,000 will do incredible damage to people's lives. It cannot go ahead. I urge the Taoiseach to scrap the rent hikes Bill.
Sentiment score: -0.03
Oh you have made a decision. There is no question there.
Sentiment score: -0.15
Just to explain to the Taoiseach, who clearly cannot grasp this very simple concept, there is no security of tenure if you cannot afford the rent.
Sentiment score: 0.44
That is it. When rents climb and climb and you just cannot make it month after month, that is not secure. That is a recipe for chaos in your life. That is a recipe for driving people to Dublin, Shannon or Cork airport to go thar sáile, far, far away to live their lives or, in the case of families, for driving them into homelessness. The Government has made a decision and it has made it very clear whose side it is on. It is on the side of very large corporate landlords; not just any common or garden landlord but the large ones and the vulture funds. They want market rate and the Government is giving it to them on a silver platter. I have told the Taoiseach that most tenancies do not last six years. They average at three and a half years and 25% of tenancies every single year are brand new. Will the Taoiseach answer that?
Sentiment score: -0.06
You will see.
Sentiment score: 0.00
We could tell you what was-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Gallery is fine. The people in the Gallery recognise the truth.
Sentiment score: 0.26
Oh my God. Oh my good God.
Sentiment score: 0.44
This is a disgrace.
Sentiment score: -0.49
Pot kettle black.
Sentiment score: 0.00