Cabinet Committees Dail Éireann — 2021-12-01 ============================================================ Matt Carthy (SF), Cavan-Monaghan We do not even need to go back that far. In May this year, the Minister brought forward proposals that would cap rent increases at 4%. There was a provision to allow landlords who had not previously increased rents to accumulate an increase in one go. An increase of 8% was permissible. When he realised that had failed, he brought forward a proposal that would link rent to the cost of inflation. Even though he was told by Deputy Ó Broin and others that inflation would surpass 4%, he proceeded anyway. We are now back for a third go with this. He has proposed a cap of 2%, but again it includes a crucial loophole that will allow landlords, according to some reports, to increase rents to by up to 5.9%. Will the Taoiseach accept that what is now required is a rent freeze and measures put in place to reduce rents for hard-working families and workers who are crippled by the failure of this Government and successive Governments to address the rental crisis we face? --- 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/2021-12-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:54+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-12-01