The Minister may not have noticed, and maybe Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have not noticed, that tenants in private rental accommodation are already under huge stress. In case things were not bad enough, the Government is now going to throw them to the mercy of rack-renting landlords from 1 March. Whatever limits and calming effect rent pressure zones had in slowing down rent increases will all be gone. New rents will be pitched to the highest in the area. The sky will be the limit. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael surely know this. They know what is going on out there the same as I do. They know what is going to happen. Tenants going into new apartments or houses, or existing ones that become vacant, face extortionate increases. Tenancies do not just change every six years. The Government knows there is regular turnover. The average tenancy lasts about three and a half years. Laois renters will be particularly hard hit, given the evidence of what is already going on in that sector in the county. Many tenants are under huge pressure and regularly tell me about this. They have to go short of meals, clothes and a whole range of things to try to keep the roof over their heads. They have to turn off heating. The RTB figures for last year show that rents in Laois for new tenancies had jumped 16.7%, higher than existing tenancies. The latest figures for new rents in Laois show that there has been another increase of 15.3% on existing tenancies. That is the current situation, before 1 March. A crummy one-bedroom apartment now costs €,1750 per month. A three-bedroom house in Kilminchy costs €2,100 per month. A four-bedroom house in Foxburrow costs €2,500 per month. We have had the highest eight quarterly increases we have ever seen in the county, despite the fact that we have RPZs. The race is on for landlords to get to the top of the market and market rent. On top of all that, there can be annual increases of up to 2%. Who in the name of God can afford that? This will cause a catastrophe for people. Existing tenants in homes and apartments will be put under huge pressure with higher rents. The Government is introducing measures it has said will provide tenants with security, but the Minister of State and I know how it works. We know how landlords will apply pressure. There will be strategic evictions and notices to quit because people will not be able to pay the rent. I appeal to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael not to push through the Bill. It will hurt tens of thousands of households that are already trying to keep their heads above the waterline in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. It is a real difficulty for younger people who are over the income threshold for social housing and do not have a hope of being able to save a deposit. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael spoke about home ownership. People can forget about it because they will not be able to save for a deposit. They are trapped in private rented accommodation. I am sure the Minister and Minister of State know an increasing number of people who are going past middle age, as well as elderly people who are paying massive rents; such people come to me. Where will they go when they hit pension age? The Government's contention is that the increase in the supply of housing will reduce rents. The evidence does not support that. The evidence at a committee did not show that. Between 2003 and 2007, the construction of new homes hit record levels, including over 90,000 in one year. Did rents go down? Not a hope. They did not. They increased dramatically. That is what happened. The only beneficiaries of the Bill will be large rack renting landlords. I appeal to the Minister of State. Section 8 is absolutely shocking and will put huge pressure on people. I ask the Government not to try to force through the Bill, in particular section 8, and instead introduce effective rent controls for counties like Laois where rents are rocketing. I ask the Government to increase the support for Laois County Council and other councils around the country to build more cost-rental homes and improve housing affordability. I want more home ownership, rental housing and people in secure accommodation, but this Bill will not do that. It will pile pressure on people. I am not just coming in here to have a go. I am saying this because of what I see happening on the ground

Sentiment score: 0.04