I echo my party colleague's baffled and confounded response to this legislation. It fails to acknowledge the absolutely dire situation that so many renters are in, the crisis and emergency that this Government has created and the failure of the Government to provide any solutions. The system is pricing people out of renting and this Bill is only going to make matters worse. In my constituency, grown-up people are stuck in their family home, unable to grow any further in their own lives. This Bill represents a false solution to the problems faced by renters. It is a reality we have heard at committee and from all the experts that if this Bill passes, the sky-high rents in this country will continue to rise. Setting rent anew with new leases means properties that have had their already very high rents capped at a 2% increase per year will see rents sky-rocket. Already in my constituency, if you search for Dundrum on daft.ie, the lowest cost two-bedroom property is priced at €2,500 per month. The lowest priced one-bedroom property is €1,700. I cannot imagine how a young family or working professional, or anyone but the wealthiest in society, can survive and plan for their future while paying €30,000 a year in rent. People have contacted my office desperate for help, unable to dream of getting to the top of the housing list. Spiralling rents are leaving them trapped in homelessness. Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin, ach tá na daoine seo fágtha gan tinteán ar bith. Grown-up children are stuck in their family homes and unable to grow. People are putting off having children because they do not have room in the family home. They cannot imagine raising a family when they could be pushed out by rent increases or evictions at any time. The sense of hopelessness felt by those stuck in this situation is palpable. People tell me about all the things they cannot do and all the ways that their lives are impacted. It is leaving people in unsafe living conditions with damp and mould. There are cases where people cannot escape a bad family situation because they have nowhere to go and no resources to pay nearly €2,000 per month for the most basic option available in the private market. It is leaving people in jobs they want to escape and limiting their educational opportunities, all because those who have somewhere are so desperate to keep a roof over their heads and trying to find somewhere to rent at an affordable rent is nigh on impossible. This Bill represents a false solution. That is crystal clear in the simple fact that part of the goal of this Bill is to allow rents to continue to rise. We are faced with market-driven solution after market-driven solution. I know we are given the message back that we do not see any place for market-driven solutions, but that is not the case. We do see a place for market-driven solutions but the Government seems to be blinded by them alone. It is time for us to finally view housing in this country as a public good and a human right, not as an asset to be leveraged in every which way to the detriment of real people. There are no safeguards against constructive evictions so that landlords can reset to a market rent. We know we need a radical reset in housing. I do not see how a plan based around allowing rents to be hiked with every new lease delivers on that much-needed reset.

Sentiment score: -0.02