The views of the Minister on this matter are well known. I will remind the House of remarks he made a year ago, almost to the day. He described the policy as "bonkers" and stated that Fine Gael was out of touch for trying to pursue it. He stated that Fine Gael should scrap co-living and that if Deputies Varadkar and Eoghan Murphy wanted this bonkers policy so much, they should live together. The Minister is not duty-bound to carry out a review. He has mandatory ministerial guideline powers that were introduced by D…

This will be very important legislation. I assure the Minister that I have kept a very careful record of everything he stated on this issue at the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government. We will compare the legislation with the comments he made. The key issues are whether the LDA will be a designated activity company, whether it will be fully subject to freedom of information and the lobby register in respect of its commercial and non-commercial activities, and whether it will stick to the 10% so…

As I am entitled to do.

The programme for Government commits to: "Strengthen the regulatory and enforcement mechanisms with regard to short-term lettings." As I am sure the Taoiseach will know, the vast majority of short-term lets in the State are not compliant with the Government's regulations and the level of enforcement from local authorities is very low. Will he commit in the legislative programme to strengthening the regulations for short-term letting platforms and, in particular, to introducing a specific planning offence to fine pl…

Statements of fact; not allegations.

Tell that to the families paying extra interest charges.

They could be very hungry.

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended) to provide for a prohibition on rent increases for all existing and new tenancies for three years. Rents are too high in this country and too many people are paying too much money to keep a roof over their heads. Since 2016, when the previous Government's housing strategy, Rebuilding Ireland, was introduced, rents across the State have increased by an astonishing 40%. The average asking rent ac…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

You did.

He will do it at a discount.

Will the Taoiseach tell us what he is going to do?

It is the Government that is at fault. Legislate.

It has no spending commitments and no targets. It is a waste of paper.

There are no targets.

No targets.

The programme for Government commits to the extension of the moratorium on the termination of tenancies in line with public health advice. As the Taoiseach knows, the current emergency ban on notices to quit, evictions and rent increases expires in 11 days. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of renters who are very uncertain about what their future holds. Does the Government intend to extend the ban on notices to quit, evictions and rent increases until the end of the year? Moreover, does the Government…

I thank the Labour Party for introducing this important motion. Sinn Féin will support it and I will speak to the rental section in a moment. I want to take this opportunity to correct one of the things that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said about the Rebuilding Ireland home loan. He said there is no blanket ban on draw-downs. He is not correct. Today, I received an answer to a parliamentary question from his Department and I am happy to share it with him. It confirms that a circular was issued by his Depa…

With respect to the matter in front of us, we know that significant numbers of renters are affected by temporary lay-offs. To try to establish some sense of it ourselves, Sinn Féin launched an online survey for renters over a month ago. About 1,000 renters across the State responded. While it is not a scientifically representative sample and we do not claim that it is, it had a good geographical, age and income mix. That survey told us 60% of renters who replied had lost jobs or income as a result of Covid-19. Some…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes: — the absence of any targets for the delivery of affordable rental or purchase homes in the Programme for Government; — the absence of any definition of affordable housing or any price points for affordable housing in the Programme for Government; — the delays in delivering an affordable cost rental scheme since it was announced by the Government in 2014 and again in 2016; — that rents have increased by 26 per cent since 2016, with average rents at €1,402 per month and €2,000 per m…