Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien will “legislate quickly” to stop landlords hitting renters with a “double whammy” of an 8% rent hike, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said yesterday.
It comes after People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said some property owners are using a loophole to increase costs after a rent freeze was in place due to the pandemic.
Speaking in the Dail, Mr Martin said Mr O’Brien will move “in relation to those most vulnerable” but admitted options are limited by the Constitution on introducing a blanket ban on rent increases.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald hit out at the Taoiseach and said “the jig is up” and accused him of “leaving renters in the lurch”.
She said: “An entire generation is locked out of home ownership and don’t stand a chance of saving for a mortgage deposit. Renters are struggling to keep heads above water and if this wasn’t bad enough, tenants could now be hit with a hike up to 8% when you withdraw emergency protections for renters next month.
“This arises because of a loophole in the disaster Rent Pressure Zone legislation that will allow renters who did not endure the 8% increase last year to be hit on the double, a double whammy.”
The Sinn Fein chief told the Taoiseach “to get the finger out” for renters “already being fleeced”.
She said Mr Martin has “said no” to her party’s proposals which she said could help tenants such as legislating to ban rent hikes for three years and putting a month’s rent back in “each renter’s pocket”. But Mr Martin challenged her “sincerity and lack of honesty” after Sinn Fein opposed 1,200 houses in Donabate last week.
The Taoiseach said: “It’s hypocrisy on a grand scale. You keep attacking, attacking, attacking and opposing housing project after housing project. I really would appreciate it if your party would get the finger out and start doing something about that and support the parties and all councils across the country to get houses built.”
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said “we have a Government of landlords for the landlords”.
He added Dublin has the fifth highest rents in all of Europe – more expensive than Paris, Berlin or Rome. And Irish renters pay on average 40% of their income in rent – the world’s highest.
Mr Martin insisted “the Government does not represent landlords” and said it is bringing forward a right to housing clause in the Constitution.
