Government accused of making ‘an absolute hames’ of rental reforms

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

The Government has been accused of making “an absolute hames” of their rental reforms announced last week.

Opposition politicians raised the rent controls issue at Leaders’ Questions on Tuesday for the fourth time in a row.

Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats said the Government proposals would drive up rents and accused the coalition of sowing confusion.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the average length of a tenancy was three-and-a-half years, and so the tenancy changes would be felt quickly.

She said those who move between rental properties frequently for work or education will be “hammered” by higher and higher rents.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Ireland needed to boost its private rental and housing supply.

He said the reforms would provide “stronger protections than ever before” and said Sinn Féin would have to vote for them.

“What will happen is that the contrast between the Sinn Féin hyperbole and what will happen when we put these legislative pieces through the House, will be a yawning gap.”

He said that no existing tenant will have their rent increased under the measures, and said that the market reset under six-year tenancies introduced from March 1st next year would attract investment.

Mr Martin said Sinn Féin aimed to reduce the size of the private rental sector.

He accused Ms McDonald of opposing up to 1,700 housing units in Clonliffe College and of not treating it like a housing emergency in her constituency.

Ms McDonald replied: “It might interest the Taoiseach to know that, far from having an ideological objection to rental accommodation, I was raised in rental accommodation. Imagine that.”

She said it was not true that her party wanted to reduce the private rental supply and said her opposition was to renters being “fleeced and gouged in the way that is currently happening”.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said that the Government’s “chaotic drip feed” of housing policies had caused uncertainty and confusion.

Mr Martin said supply needed to increase, and under his Government, 5,938 houses had been completed in the first quarter of the year.

He said this was the highest rate since 2011, bar the spike after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“After 2026, linking new units to the consumer price index (CPI) as well as a right to reset after six years is the crucial piece that will allow inward investment in to get supply up,” he said.

“If we do not get supply up, then the rate at which prices will moderate will be slower.”

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said the Government had “made an absolute hames” of rental reforms announced last week.

“Even the Taoiseach’s Cabinet colleagues could not make sense of them,” she said.

“That is because driving record rents even higher, according to the Government, is somehow going to bring rents down. Make that make sense.

“No wonder the Taoiseach’s Cabinet colleagues are utterly bewildered.”

Mr Martin responded: “I reject the use of language like ‘chaotic’ and all that.

“Very few apartments have been built. We have a problem there and we need to attract private sector investment in to get the supply up.”