Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-11
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Conor Sheehan (LAB), Limerick City

The Minister did not meaningfully address my amendments in his response to them. He spoke about Standing Order 197. The types of reports referenced under that Standing Order came in as part of political reform in 2011. They are often delayed, sometimes for two, three or four years in respect of certain legislation. God knows where we will be four years from now. There is no proper, thorough and standardised approach to how these reports are done. In 2017, the Oireachtas Library and Research Service did a very good analysis of the reports. It found they had been done in a very ad hoc way and that no committee has undertaken a review of any enacted legislation on foot of a post-enactment report.
The reason I brought forward these amendments is that we know the Bill will cause rents to increase. The fact the Minister has not challenged that assertion in any of his responses is telling. It will become too politically difficult for the Government to sustain a situation where rents are allowed to be reset to market rate and to increase by anything up to 15%. If we are not back here discussing this next year, we certainly will be back here before the local elections. Where will we be then? Will people be paying €3,000 a month in rent? In fact, on daft.ie right now, there is a two-bedroom apartment just around the corner from this building that is for rent for more than €3,000.
What will happen as a result of this Bill is that if we get any new supply at all, it will largely comprise build-to-rent units that most ordinary working people cannot afford. There certainly will not be any supply in Limerick city, which I represent. Large institutional investors will not get enough of a yield from building expensive build-to-rent apartments there because there is no demand for them. The Minister talked about record investment but the outcomes of that investment are, by and large, incredibly poor. I am always astonished when I hear members of the Government talking about affordable housing provision, given that approximately 35% of what is counted as affordable housing actually comes from vacant property refurbishment grants.
The Minister has not addressed my simple question as to what the forecasted impact of this Bill will be on rents in the private rental market for the rest of 2026, for 2027 and for 2028. The fact he is pushing this legislation through without being able to answer that question is frightening. I agree with him about the need for increased supply and for private sector investment, but this Bill will not deliver anywhere near the level of private sector investment needed to meet housing need, particularly in areas outside Dublin and very niche parts of Cork. The reality is that for every year since 2021, the Government has been 2,000 units or more below its completion targets. It will fail again this year to meet the target.
The Minister referred to the crisis in the rental market and the homelessness crisis. I always think of the key recommendation of the Housing Commission that social and affordable housing should make up 20% of all housing stock. At present, that proportion is around 10%. The fact the Government has not met the targets it has set itself since Housing for All was introduced in 2021 really highlights that it is looking in the wrong place for a solution to the problem. This Bill will not improve the situation. It certainly will not arrest rising rents or rising homelessness. The Minister should lay before the House a report setting out exactly the modelling for the Bill. We have all gone through the RTB figures and done the calculations. The evidence, as it has been laid out by me and by other speakers, is absolutely frightening. These measures will devastate renters, who are the most vulnerable people in the housing system at the moment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-11