The only guarantee in the Bill is that the already unaffordable rip-off rents will be increased to extortionate proportions, and I mean all rents, not just those affecting tenancies, from 1 March. Over a very short period, all rents will increase to extortionate proportions. It is an outright attack on renters. Some 60,000 renters will have their rents increased every year by anything up to €3,000 to €3,500. It will lock renters out of the market and increase homelessness. This Bill is written for, on behalf of and by big corporate landlords and institutional investors. There is a housing emergency in this State. A total of 16,734 persons were homeless on 31 December of this year, an increase of 1,870 on 2024. A total of 5,188 of those were children, up 678 on 2024. That is a scandal, and this Bill will make matters worse. The Government has consistently failed to meet its housing targets. This year it had a target of 41,000 units; it missed it by over 5,000 units. The fact of the matter is that the housing emergency we have in this country continues to undermine the very fabric of Irish society. There is an alternative, and I continue to say we need the declaration in law of a housing emergency. That is the basis for any successful alternative to the current failed policies of this and previous Governments. Housing is a human right and is enshrined in Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Housing Commission deals with this housing emergency and says, "It is critical that this housing deficit is addressed through emergency action." Successive governments have failed to do that and failed to solve this housing crisis. The Government's current plan and this Bill fail. They are rebaked policies of previous Governments and previous plans. This one is no different. There is precedent for the declaration in law of a housing emergency. We had the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts between 2011 and 2016. A declaration of a housing emergency in law would ensure that the State and all its agencies, Departments of State, local authorities, approved housing bodies and utilities like Irish Water and the ESB would be required to take emergency action to solve the housing crisis. This approach is consistent with and faithful to both the spirit and the terms of Bunreacht na hÉireann, and I believe it should be implemented urgently because it is the only way this housing crisis can be dealt with and reasonable housing can be provided for Irish citizens. We need large-scale building of social and affordable houses on public land, we need to stop all evictions and we need to freeze rents, not to increase them to what are being called market rents, which are absolutely extortionate. We need a massive plan for local authorities to purchase vacant houses, to refurbish them and to let them to housing applicants. These are the first steps in a successful housing plan, and the very first step in that is the declaration of a housing emergency. One final item I want to refer to is the current income limits for local authority housing applicants. They are completely out of date, totally inadequate and a huge pressure on ordinary families, working families and families on social welfare.

Sentiment score: -0.15