The daft.ie rental price report for quarter 1 of 2018 makes for shocking reading and highlights how the Government's rent pressure zone legislation has failed. In every single county in the State, with the exception of Donegal, the 4% rent pressure zone cap is being breached on new lets. In Dublin, average rent is now at a record high of €1,875 a month. This is 12.4% higher than the same period last year and three times the 4% cap. Double-digit rent inflation was noted in 14 other counties, including counties in the Dublin commuter belt, and the average rent in Meath, Kildare and Louth increased by over 10%. This is creating massive affordability issues for those trying to access the private rental market.

This issue cannot be left unresolved. We need to introduce real rent certainty, and the Residential Tenancies Board needs the power and resources to begin policing breaches of the 4% cap. When will the Taoiseach review the rent pressure zone legislation? Will he reconsider providing real rent certainty by linking rents to an index such as the consumer price index, CPI? When will he publish and move the residential tenancies (amendment) Bill to give the RTB additional powers?

The daft.ie report makes for interesting reading but it tells us something we already know, in that rents are increasing. It discusses rents sought rather than agreed rents, which is what the RTB collects. It also looks at a much smaller data sample than the RTB report, which gives us the quarterly rent index. The last RTB report from the final quarter of last year told us two important things, namely, that the increase in rent was slowing down dramatically, with a 1.1% increase in the fourth quarter, and that the rent pressure zones in Dublin, which have been in place for 12 months, are working. There was an almost 3% decrease in rents being asked for over the course of 2017 when measured against 2016. Having said that, we recognise that new powers are required for the RTB. It needs to become a more independent regulator to enforce the market robustly on behalf of landlords and tenants. That legislation is being prepared at the moment by the Office of the Attorney General, in conjunction with my Department, and we hope to publish it at the beginning of June.