Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Christopher O'Sullivan (FF), Cork South-West

I thank Senators for their contributions. It was stated that we are listening to the investors and that this is what is driving the legislation. That is absolutely not the case. The motivation behind this legislation is to support the types of people and situations Senators have been describing, namely the women in emergency accommodation and the pensioners in private rented accommodation. That is exactly what we are trying to do here. We are introducing security of tenure and a nationwide rent pressure zone, which was not there before. I keep coming back to the example of Clonakilty in my area which did not have any rent control restrictions. The latter was non-existent, and now Clonakilty has them. That is exactly the motivation behind the Bill.
Senator Andrews mentioned that rents in Cork are going up by €3,500 per year. Those are figures that he has extrapolated from some report or that he has seen. What he outlined is absolutely not the case.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18