The number of renters having to leave their homes is staggering. Last year, 3,038 households renting were served a notice to quit, mainly because the landlord was selling. This is the highest number of tenant evictions in a single year since the foundation of the State. Renters are living in fear and insecurity. They are terrified of losing their homes and facing the impossible task of finding somewhere else to rent. A quarter of all children are growing up in an insecure private rental sector. That is 281,000. For a child, stability and security are fundamental to develop and grow.

I want to just give two quick examples. A couple in our office last week was looking for accommodation. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, agreed that they could self-accommodate. They were on the phone and the officer was on the other phone. The hotel was looking for €460 for a room, which was available. However, the DRHE refused to pay that sort of money. In another situation, a woman with two teenagers will be homeless next week. They have been on the radar of the family support unit for the past month. The family support unit advised that they were eligible for homeless HAP and advised an emergency accommodation for one bedroom would be provided, if even one bedroom was available. They said their services are currently at capacity. There is no room in the hubs. What will the Government do about this? Emergency measures with immediate effect need to be taken.

This is, as the Deputy said, a very big problem. It is driving homelessness in some cases. What is happening is traditional landlords who might have one or two properties are leaving the market. For every one that comes in, two leave. This is a big problem. The reasons why that is happening may not be all that comfortable for us to absorb fully. What are they saying? They are saying huge numbers of new regulations in recent years are making it very hard to be a small landlord, the 2% cap on rent increases is making it hard to continue, particularly when interest rates are likely to go up over the next couple of years, and that the very high burden of taxation is an issue too. These are things we have to be honest and upfront about and develop solutions to so that we can reverse this trend of landlords leaving the market and people losing their homes as a result.