This Bill is deeply flawed. It says it is going to protect security of tenure, but it is like I am living in a parallel universe. I am hearing two sides. The Minister's story is one thing and the reality for our constituents is different. The suggestion is that the Bill will protect existing renters from rising rents. Apparently, it is going to protect renters and set rents at market rates. It promises the sun, moon and stars but the reality is that it will not deliver what it purportedly sets out to deliver. New tenants will face immediate market rent increases. There are no guarantees that people will not be evicted. The rents are set at market levels that are so high that I am really concerned. Each time they are reset, I will be particularly concerned about those who are already vulnerable in paying the rent at the rate it is currently at. When that rent increases to a higher level, they will not be able to pay it. I am also very concerned for students. Students move regularly because they rent for ten months of the year and then they move somewhere else. They are subject to this change as well. It means it is not safe for them. Of course this Government does not build affordable student accommodation, which means students have to rent on the private market. Before I came into the Chamber, I looked at daft.ie for rental properties in my own constituency. A one-bed apartment in Crumlin is advertised at €2,266 per month. A three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, which is advertised as a family home, is €3,200 per month in Chapelizod. I do not know who can afford this. I do not think this Bill will do anything to protect anyone who is in this situation. The Minister has openly stated that the goal is to stop long-term rents from falling behind market rents, but this means that all renters will eventually pay an unaffordable rent. The Bill fails to protect against evictions of current renters. When they are evicted, how will they then afford the rents in newer places where rents are really high? People will be locked out. They will be left in renting for the rest of their lives, if they can get somewhere to rent. It will make home ownership impossible for young people. It will create unaffordable rents for key workers, which I am very concerned about as my party's education spokesperson. We hear time and time again about teachers, particularly newly qualified teachers, who are unable to afford to live in Dublin and pay their rents. Every single week, my clinics in my constituency are inundated with people in absolutely dire housing situations who are being evicted through no fault of their own and literally have nowhere else to go. People who are approved for HAP, for homeless HAP and for everything cannot get somewhere to live because they just cannot afford it. As I have already outlined, given the average going rent today in Dublin South-Central, it is no wonder they have nowhere to live. Then they turn up in homeless situations. I live in the Tenters in an area called Fairbrother’s Fields. It was the first tenant purchase scheme that this State ever built. It was built by the fledgling State, between 1922 and 1924, at a time when we were not rich. We had our centenary recently. We were a fledgling State trying to get up on our feet. We were able to produce these homes, which are of a really high standard. If we could do that then, why now when we are so wealthy can we not build homes? Yesterday, my colleague, Deputy Hearne, launched the State construction company proposal that the Social Democrats are offering as a solution to the Government as to how we can do this. We cannot just rely on private investors and private developers for the housing situation because that is the problem. That is the place we are in now. The last thing I will say, before my colleague comes in, is that I am concerned about how young people will ever get on the property ladder. I may have skipped a step because how will they get out of their childhood bedrooms to get to rent somewhere or to buy somewhere? A colleague of mine, who is 26 years of age and an administrative assistant in this House, can no longer afford the rents in the place where they live and has moved back to their family home because the rents are so unaffordable. That is a colleague of ours in this House. I am really concerned about students travelling up and down to apprenticeships, universities and technical colleges around the country who cannot afford the rents there. They are spending a long time travelling because they cannot afford to live there. This Bill is deeply flawed. I am very concerned not only for the current people who are renting but also for the people in the future.

Sentiment score: 0.00

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 11 February 2026.

Sentiment score: -0.20