Housing rents and ministerial comments
Senator Gavan criticised a Minister of State's remarks about low-cost rents and said the Government was ignoring rent increases, especially in Limerick. The exchange became argumentative, with the Leader defending the comments and calling for more housing supply.
I raise the issue of the extraordinary statement on housing by the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, yesterday. I ask that the Minister would come into the House to allow us have a further debate on that. The Minister of State stated: "I know everybody always quotes the high-cost areas, but there are other places that are available for rent for a fraction of what's being quoted..." Obviously, he has some secret information of which the rest of us are not aware. We should invite the Minister of State to the House so that he can tell us where those fractional rents are for the people in Dublin, Limerick and Cork because it is clear that the housing strategy being pursued by the Leader's Government is failing badly. In Limerick, we had 15% rent hikes in the past year. I remind the Leader that when Sinn Féin brought forward proposals to contain rents, they were rejected by both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. As the Leader knows, Fianna Fáil solutions involve showering builders and developers with even more tax cuts. Basically, it is arguing for a bigger and better Galway tent.
This is a very serious issue and I will give the Leader an example of its seriousness. A woman aged 75 living on the Ennis Road came into our clinic in Limerick and explained that her landlord had put the rent up from €600 to €900. At the age of 75, that lady is now facing being made homeless. The Leader's Government had ample opportunity to tackle the outrageous increases in rents and it failed because Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are part of a landlord coalition. That is not funny. Does the Leader think that 75 year old woman is laughing?
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I might bring him down to Limerick to introduce him to her.
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He makes one-dimensional speeches all the time.
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Whenever we discuss rents in this House, what we have is a series of accidental landlords who pop up and tell us how difficult it is to be a landlord. There is no mention of the people being exploited. There has been a 15% increase in rents in Limerick, and what has the Government done? It has sat on its hands and done nothing about it. It has failed people across this country. I will leave it at that.