The pretence that the Government cares about the rental crisis and the unaffordable and obscene rents that are contributing to the housing crisis and misery that many people are suffering this country is being dropped completely. We have a naked admission with this Bill that the Government is representing property speculators, investors and landlords. It is trying to justify it with the most perverse logic ever, namely that it is going to raise rents that are already unaffordable in order to make rents drop. It is like the American military commander in Vietnam who said they had to bomb the villages to save them. It is the same perverse and Orwellian logic. I spotted it, as did Deputy Hearne, in the explanatory memorandum and in the Minister's speech where he admits this. The explanatory memorandum, regarding the purpose of the resetting upwards of already unaffordable rents to market rents, states: "The aim is to encourage investment in the rental sector by ensuring that rents in respect of long standing tenancies do not fall behind market rent". For the very few people out there who might have half affordable rent, the Government is to make sure they cannot even have that. We have to make sure, in the interests of the investors, that everybody is paying the highest possible rent because that is what the investors need. The Minister admitted the same logic is behind the Government's thinking when he said earlier this year that housing is about international markets. It is actually a spreadsheet in Zurich, New York or Antwerp more so than a builder looking at a site in counties Longford or Roscommon and deciding what is happening here. That is it. The Government is dancing to the tune of speculators and investors in Antwerp, New York and Zurich, and of course we have our own home grown greedy landlords as well. The Government will put up what are already the most unaffordable rents in Europe to even more unaffordable levels. Our rents are 30% higher than the EU average and the Government wants them to go higher. In Dublin, the average rent is now 50% of the after tax income of the average worker. That average is brought down by the fact that there is still a small number of slightly lower rents. When everything is reset to the highest level of market rent, that average will jump. Rents have gone up by 41% in the past six years. If rent is reset every six years, 60,000 to 70,000 new tenancies will potentially go up by 40% every year. That is shocking, on top of the already obscene rental levels that are completely unaffordable for ordinary people. That makes a mockery of the so-called protections, including the security of tenure measures, because if rent is unaffordable and there is a churn of tenancies about every three and a half years, anybody looking for a new tenancy will be faced with completely unaffordable rents that could be up to 40% higher than the already unaffordable levels. They will have absolutely no chance of being able to afford those rents. All the while, the guys in Zurich, New York and Antwerp, and our own homegrown landlords, will be raking it in from these unaffordable rents. It is also not entirely clear that the protections the Government claims are in place are working. Accommodation not being suitable to needs can still be grounds for eviction. People can be evicted for being in overcrowded accommodation. There will be new reasons for eviction, even under the so-called protections, such as cases where there are too many people living in a property. People may have had a kid or have a new partner who has kids and is in an overcrowded situation, and that now grounds for people to be evicted under the Bill. Of course that will happen. As landlords find other reasons for evictions, then will then have an incentive to drive up rents. The Government has given them an incentive. Even in the case of those who are marginally protected, the landlord now has an incentive to kick them out and get the rent up to the highest level. What the Government is doing is unbelievable. It is disgusting and shameful and will make the housing misery a lot worse for a lot of people.

Sentiment score: -0.03