The Green Party said today that the rent certainty measures agreed by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were a sticking plaster on the rental crisis, but would not cure the dysfunction in the market.
Speaking today, Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan TD said: “While we welcome any measures to help struggling tenants, we feel that these measures don’t go far enough to overhaul the rental market in Ireland, which is simply not working. While limiting rent increases to 4% per annum is certainly better than the 20-40% increases tenants have been receiving, we would have liked to see the limits linked to the Consumer Price Index. Similarly, while we welcome the inclusion of Waterford, Limerick and Galway in the plans, we would have liked tenants in rural Ireland to have been afforded the same protections.
“This is very much an emergency measure - a sticking plaster in the short term. It does not deal with the fundamental problems with the rental market. The haphazard nature of this bill, brought last minute and agreed between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil behind the scenes, meant that it couldn’t be any other way.
“While these rent certainty measures will be a welcome relief for the thousands of tenants facing rent hikes in the New Year, the rental crisis will need to be revisited, with more fundamental reforms of the market considered by the Dáil in a structured, comprehensive way."
Green Party Deputy Leader Catherine Martin TD said: “The reality is that home ownership is now out of reach for most people. Rather than responding to this problem by protecting tenant rights and planning for the future, the Government is tinkering with the market and offering incentives to landlords and developers. Rent uncertainty makes it impossible to settle down in communities, to contribute to those communities, to start a family or enrol a child in the local school. Rent uncertainty and unwillingness to regulate investors in this area has also directly contributed to a mass increase in family homelessness.
“We must create a new model of rental in this country, based on security of tenure, fair rents, strong tenancy rights, stability for landlords and a recognition that housing is a human right and therefore fundamentally different to other markets. This bill does not go far enough to do that.”