On 7 November, Wicklow County Council will bring forward and enact a new differential rent scheme for its 6,500 tenants. Of those tenants, 87% will see substantial rent hikes of 100%, 200% or, in some cases, 300%. That would be fundamentally wrong at any time, but given the huge cost-of-living crisis that is impacting people right across the board in terms of putting food on the table and paying for energy and electricity, this is coming at a time when people simply cannot afford to pay those grotesque, substantial rent hikes. I have had many people, including elderly people and old age pensioners, crying down the phone to me saying that they have been put in the situation of making an impossible choice between putting food on the table, looking after their sick or, in some cases, dying family members, wives or husbands, and paying this substantially increased rent hike. There needs to be an intervention here. This is coming about because of a failure to put in place a national harmonised rent scheme, so it is up to local authorities to bring this forward.

The Taoiseach to respond. Your time is up, Deputy.

There needs to be intervention. I am calling on the Government to intervene to stop these grotesque rent hikes proceeding.

Deputy, finish within your time.

I call on the Minister for housing and local government to intervene and stop these hikes from going ahead on 7 November.

In future, prepare your question to finish within the time, Deputy Brady.

The Government cannot be intervening in every local authority and there has to be sustainability in social housing so that we can provide for the long-term and so that people on the lists and so on have some opportunity on a continuing basis to access social housing. I am not familiar with the specific details in Wicklow County Council, but rent schemes should reflect incomes, they should be fair, and they should also enable some degree of sustainability in terms of social housing well into the future.