The people I represent in Dublin Fingal West are already paying huge rents, with an average cost of close to €2,500 per month. A person on an ordinary wage is at nothing and has no hope of being able to rent. I am genuinely struggling to understand the logic of this Bill. The Minister has said openly that it will cause the cost of renting to increase. Any reasonable person would agree that rents in this State are too high. Perhaps the Minister disagrees but I would contend they are far too high as it is. This legislation will put them up even more. The impact of the Bill will just be to crease people who simply do not have the money to pay more, all for the crime of wanting and needing somewhere to live. I have been contacted about this by a large number of constituents. They call into my offices, they ring the office and they contact us by email. The Government rep in my area is clever enough now. She has no office and nobody can find her. We are thankfully Fianna Fáil-free, as it goes. When people contact me - and they do - they are really nervous. They hear what the Minister says about the impact of his legislation and they see that it does not bother him. It should but it appears not to. When they come to the office they want an answer in terms of how they are going to be able to afford somewhere to live into the future and I cannot give them one. They are waiting 14 years on the social housing list as it stands. People's entire lives are going to be on hold and the Government's big idea appears to be to put rents up. I genuinely cannot fathom it. I spoke to a family recently who have just been taken off the housing list because they are slightly over the income limit. The reason they are slightly over the income limit is because they have been waiting for social housing for so long that their children have grown up to the point where two of them now have part-time work that has pushed the family income over the limit. They pay for the rent themselves; they do not get HAP or any other assistance. They are private renters. They now have a notice to quit and they see the impact of this. Renting is already tough. They cannot find anywhere to rent as it is. They are going to have to leave their property and now they are facing having to pay even higher rents. When this legislation goes through, it will push the rent up even more. I spoke to the mam. She was in tears. She asked me what this law was for and who it will benefit. I gave her an honest answer, as the Minister would expect me to, which was to say it will certainly not benefit renters; it will benefit large-scale landlords and vulture funds. She asked me why. I genuinely could not answer. I hope the Minister makes that clear because she watches the proceedings in here and, given her own situation, she is worried and anxious. As this legislation goes through, there is no comfort I can give her unless the Minister has some words of comfort to offer her, which I doubt.
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Yet.
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Okay. The Minister of State should probably stick to the subject, if he can.
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You have nothing to say in your legislation, so ramble on there.
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