Bill to extend Rent Pressure Zones 'an utter shambles'
The Dáil is debating legislation to extend Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) across the country.
The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025 is expected to be passed by the lower house of the Oireachtas today and go to the Seanad tomorrow.
Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin described the proposed legislation as "an utter shambles" and "utterly defensible".
He told the Dáil that he has never witnessed such a "haphazard, ramshackle, back of the envelope" approach to a crucial policy, adding that it is a "farce".
Minister of State at the Department of Housing Christopher O'Sullivan, who introduced the bill, said that the Government is moving fast because tenants need protection and this will be delivered by extending RPZs.
"This is an immediate and concrete protection against high rent inflation," he added, claiming that it would create certainty, stability and clarity for the sector.
Mr O'Sullivan added that "this will come as a great sigh of relief" to many of his constituents in Cork South-West.
However, Mr Ó Broin described the Government move as an "assault on renters" who "will be the losers".
Ministers, he added, "scrambled around" to add references to students to the bill after failing to mention them in any advance briefing.
"It is the Fianna Fáil rent hike bill," the deputy said, adding that the party's solution to rising rents "is to keep those rents rising".
Mr Ó Broin also said that the move amounts to the dismantling of Rent Pressure Zones and "rips the heart out of the RPZs".
He claimed that "in the best case scenario" the proposals will create a modest increase of (housing) supply in high-value areas "and everybody else will be left behind".
Security of tenure changes will benefit a small group of tenants, Mr Ó Broin conceded, but said they will create more complicated and difficult rules that can be exploited by rogue landlords and will lead accidental landlords to make mistakes.
All this will add to the workload of the already overloaded Residential Tenacies Board (RTB), he said.
Mr O'Sullivan defended the bill, claiming the Government is aiming to strike a balance in its approach.
"We aim to attract investment, but we know that tenants deserve and need fair treatment," he said.
The minister noted that a larger landlord - with four or more tenancies - cannot end a tenancy created on or after March 2026 via a no-fault eviction.
"No-fault evictions will be restricted to smaller landlords and outlawed for larger landlords," Mr O'Sullivan said.
The minister added that rent resetting would be allowed only in specific circumstances.
"This will come as a great sigh of relief" to many of his constituents in Cork South-West, the minister added.
Minister of State John Cummins said that 17% of tenancies are outside RPZs.
He emphasised the role of enforcement and noted that the RTB has launched "several in-depth investigations into serious, deliberate and repeated breaches of rental law".
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