Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

The Minister used the term "soundbites". I sometimes wonder about that. We speak to people all the time who have serious concerns about the impact this will have on them. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, was in the House yesterday. He mentioned that Threshold and various other organisations were consulted with regard to the Bill. I want to make it clear that I am here because I am concerned about the very real impact this will have on people who are not able to afford to pay their rent.
Threshold is concerned that the option for landlords to set market rates between tenancies may result in an unintended consequence whereby renters, particularly those who move home, will end up paying high rents within three to four years and will see their overall rent security undermined. We are not aware of any modelling done to determine the impact that this change could have on the market rent levels. Because the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, mentioned it yesterday, I assume that the Minister's response will be the same with regard to when exactly he thinks these changes will happen. What is the timeframe for when we will see rent decrease? What we are seeing are mechanisms to increase rents. It is very hard for us to understand the Minister's arguments on the idea that rents will somehow be reduced when the Bill allows for them to be increased. The Minister's response will be about supply and when we will see the critical mass of that supply. He can come back to me if that is not his response. The problem is that this is premised on the notion that an increased number of properties will lead to market-driven rent reductions. That has never happened. The market increases the cost of rent and does not decrease it.
The Minister spoke about the Opposition having no solutions. He will have heard from my colleague Deputy Rory Hearne at length. We do provide solutions. The State building affordable rental properties is a major example. Relying entirely on the market has not worked up to this point. The definition of idiocy is doing something again and again and expecting a different outcome. I would love to know a timeframe for when exactly the Minister thinks rent will be reduced, and not a response with regard to having supply or a critical mass in respect of supply.
The Minister spoke about the average rental tenancy of three and half years. We are all aware of that. He hopes the Bill will increase the average. The problem is that it is three and a half years as opposed to it just being a case of people getting kicked out by their landlords after that length of time. People's lives change and they move. I particularly want to make a point about students who move every year. Each year they will be faced with increased rents.
The Bill does not define what rent is. That might sound like a stupid statement to make but there is an issue here, particularly in the context of students. Serviced apartments come with many ancillary costs. Some serviced apartments might come with an added cost relating to a car parking space. For some people, that is not optional. Even if they do not have a car, they must pay it anyway. There might be service charges for the use of utilities or common spaces. In DCU, there was a 120% increase in monthly service charge costs, from €57 to €117, which is phenomenal.
The Minister, Deputy Lawless, was quoted last September in The Irish Times voicing great concerns about this. He said that in this case DCU was not acting within the spirit of the law. He said he would discuss it with the Minister, Deputy Browne. I would love to know if that discussion has taken place because I do not see any protections in this legislation for students or anyone else in a serviced apartment because of this idea of what rent is. That is a way to have increases. The legislation says that within six years the rent cannot increase but the service charge could increase. That could be a way for the landlord to squeeze people and get more money from them. This is a serious issue for many people. A DCU student contacted me, stating as follows:
I have very little left to cover basic necessities such as food, clothing, and other everyday expenses. As a result, I regularly rely on free volunteer services, such as Olio and similar platforms [Olio, for those who do not know it, provides free food] to receive some food for free. The DCU Pantry services, providing free breakfasts and weekly food packages, are also extremely helpful - thank you very much for these initiatives, they truly make a difference.
Even with these wonderful free services, maintaining daily life remains stressful and requires strict budgeting on my part. For example, I cannot afford to use most paid services and even have to save on transportation costs, such as bus fares...
This person says they prefer to walk. They cannot afford a bus fare because of the cost of their accommodation. Yesterday I quoted someone whose parents are paying for their rent, as many parents do. The parents are actually spending more on their child's rent than they are on their monthly mortgage. We talk about the squeezed middle. Could you get a better example of that? They are paying twice their monthly mortgage payment to support their child and God help them if they have two children in education at the same time.
This all points to our sincere and deep concerns. I am not trying to peddle misery here. I am hearing feedback from groups like Threshold of their deep concern that this Bill is not going to have the intended consequences. I believe the Minister sincerely thinks that it will. I also believe that the Bill is not going to have the impact he thinks it will. That is why we here and that is why I am making these cases to the Minister. It is not because I am trying to get some great clip for social media. By the way, accountability and showing what I do on social media is also perfectly fine because that is how one reaches people, especially younger people. That is okay. I am pleading with the Minister to explore some of our amendments. I do not believe he will because that has not been the modus operandi up to this point. I am not doing it for any reason other than to represent the people who want me to tell their stories. These are people who are fearful about what this means for them because they are struggling.
I spoke last week to the Minister about survivors of domestic violence, for example. They have to leave whenever they have to leave. They will have to move to new tenancies. There is no six-month- or three-and-a-half-year period. If they have to flee, they have to flee. I do not see provisions and protections for them in this Bill. People leave and they have to travel for all sorts of different reasons. If a husband or wife gets a job in a new city or in a new part of the country, they have to leave. I understand the motivation for having protection for six years. That is noble but it does not reflect the reality that people move for a plethora of reasons. When they do, properties will be set to market rents and that is going to have devastating consequences for these people who are already struggling to keep their heads above water.
Look at people with living with disabilities. We were criticised for using the phrase, "choosing between heating and eating", which was absurd because that is actually what disability rights activists and groups are telling us. They will be impacted by this. There are lots of people in that space who are renting and who will have to move for a range of reasons. This idea that people are static and do not move around and do not move between tenancies because of necessity is not living in reality. This Bill does not reflect the reality of people's lives and that is driving my concerns about it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19