Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20 ============================================================ Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West Today we got news that we all knew was coming. The Government's new rent rules have already driven rents to a record high. They are rising at the highest rate in a quarter of a century. Year on year, rents are up 7% in Dublin, 13% in Cork and a whopping 18% in Galway. We told the Taoiseach this would happen and these measures would undermine renters and he said it was "a ridiculous assertion". Now it is renters who are paying the price. Lauren Keena worked hard, sat her leaving certificate in 2025 and got her dream course in Galway. Because she knew she could not afford to live in the city, she put her life on hold for a year and worked full time to save up. I spoke to Lauren yesterday after seeing a video she posted online in tears at the heart-breaking struggle to find a place to live in Galway. She has tried everything - hundreds of emails, viewing after viewing, applying on rent.ie , daft.ie and through agencies, private student accommodation, digs and every avenue possible, but has found nothing. After nearly a year on a waiting list for private student accommodation, she was finally offered a studio, but the condition was €12,000 upfront for nine months, with no monthly instalments allowed. How is anyone supposed to afford that, let alone somebody fresh out of secondary school? Lauren said something else which stuck with me. She said she feels embarrassed. No young person should feel embarrassed to be in this situation. The Government should be embarrassed for failing them. Right now, this feels like a country with no vision for young people, no place for them and no future they can afford. What are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to work harder and save more? They are already doing that but it is not working because the housing system is fundamentally broken. We have all been knocking on doors in Galway, so I am sure the Taoiseach has seen the same thing I have. Everywhere you look, there are lock-boxes hanging from houses turned into short-term lets, houses that could be homes for students, workers or young families. Instead they are Airbnbs going for extortionate rates while young people like Lauren are left crying into their phones, wondering what they are supposed to do. At what point is the Taoiseach going to admit that Ireland is becoming a country that young people simply cannot afford to live in? Will he now admit that his rent rules have been a disaster? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-20/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-20