I stand in firm opposition to this destructive legislation. It is the most profound change to the regulation of the private rental sector in a decade and will have a severe impact on renters across the State. At a time when families are already crushed by a cost-of-living crisis, this Bill is not a reset; it is a surrender. The rent-hike Bill of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will allow vulture funds and big landlords to hike up the rents of 60,000 people every year. It surrenders their security to the profit motives of vulture funds and institutional investors. That is the fact and the reality. The core of this Bill, the so-called market reset, allows landlords to exploit the gap between tenancies, hiking rents to exorbitant, so-called market rates. This is not policy; it is profiteering. Analysis shows this will claw extra thousands of euro from renters annually, pushing more people into poverty and insecurity. In Meath East already, two-bedroom apartments go for in the region of €2,000 to €2,600. What we are faced with here are rents far in excess of that, rents that will be simply unaffordable. The Government's duty is to protect citizens and not portfolios. Instead of cutting and freezing unaffordable rents, this Bill deliberately fuels the crisis. We must reject it entirely. We must defend existing protections and fight for a system where housing is a home and not just a commodity for corporate profit. We need to end the rip-off, ban increases and make rents affordable. Seasaimid le chéile. Stop Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's rent hike Bill.

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