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The Journal
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Opposition TDs call for young people to hit the streets on housing in 'Raise the Roof' protest
TDS FROM SINN Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, the Green Party and People Before Profit have urged the public to take part in a housing protest outside Leinster House later today. The Raise the Roof protest will kick off at 6pm ahead of a private members' motion on homelessness from Sinn Féin later in the evening. The Sinn Féin motion, backed by other opposition parties, is calling on the Government to take emergency action to alleviate the housing crisis and to dramatically increase investment in public housing. Speaking on the plinth yesterday ahead of the protest, the Labour Party's housing spokesperson TD Conor Sheehan particularly urged young people and renters to join today's protest. Sheehan accused the Government of 'gaslighting' renters and argued that the overhaul of rental regulation announced last week by the Government will 'throw renters under the bus'. 'It will particularly negatively affect people my age. I'm in that 25 to 39 year [old] bracket, most of my friends are either living at home with their parents or they've been forced to emigrate,' Sheehan said. Advertisement Speaking ahead of Sheehan, the Social Democrats' housing spokesperson TD Rory Hearne said the measures proposed by the Government last week will further reduce homeownership. 'The Government is justifying the increase in rents to incentivise the supply of housing, and this is only going to make the housing disaster worse, and that's why we have come together to bring this motion,' he said. Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, Labour, the Greens and PBP are calling on young people in particular to join tomorrow's housing protest outside the Dáil at 6pm. Labour's Conor Sheehan says this government does not care about renters and is 'gaslighting' them with supposed fixes. — Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) June 16, 2025 The TDs also questioned where the emergency legislation promised by Housing Minister James Browne and Tánaiste Simon Harris is in relation to extending the Rent Pressure Zones across the country. Last week, Harris said publicly that emergency legislation will be put in place this week , however, no time has been set aside on the Dáil schedule to facilitate a debate on the matter. Why a Tuesday? Asked if it would be more impactful to organise the protest on a weekend, when people impacted by the housing crisis all over the country may be better placed to participate, Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said today's event is just the first in a series. 'There's also a Saturday rally in Cork, not just for the good people of Cork, but for people from Munster, and some of us will be travelling down from Dublin as well,' he said. He added that Raise the Roof and its affiliate organisations will be meeting later this month to map out a programme of activities, 'which will include a lot more opportunities for everybody to protest.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Daily Mirror
Housing protest expected at Dail as Government accused of 'assaulting' renters
The opposition has accused the Government of "gaslighting" and "assaulting" renters ahead of a large housing protest expected to take place outside Leinster House on Tuesday evening. The "Raise the Roof" protest will gather outside the gates of Leinster House from 6pm to coincide with a joint Dáil motion submitted by the opposition. The initiative, initially put together by Ireland's trade unions, will hold another protest in Cork on Saturday. The Dáil will debate an emergency motion on housing on Tuesday, calling on the Government to "dramatically increase" investment in public housing, introduce stronger taxes on vacancy and dereliction and greater use of Compulsory Purchase Orders to bring empty homes back into use. It also calls on it to introduce a rent freeze rather than changing Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs), introducing a ban on no fault evictions and restoring full funding for the Tenant in Situ scheme. Last week, the Government introduced new measures which they claimed will "protect renters". This includes extending the RPZ cap nationwide to limit rent increases to 2 per cent. It will also create six-year tenancies and introduce no fault evictions. However, the plan to allow landlords to increase rents after six years or when a tenant leaves voluntarily has been widely criticised. Speaking at Leinster House, Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin further criticised Government action on housing. He said: "[The motion contains] things that we think could be done immediately, would make a real difference and we want to see them implemented. "These proposals have the support of all of the affiliates of the Raise the Roof coalition. "The Raise the Roof campaign is going to be showing, in its numbers, the strong support from civil society, trade unions, political parties, but also, crucially, people impacted by the housing and homelessness crisis that these are the kinds of emergency measures they want to see, not the all out assault on renters In the private rental sector we've seen from the Government essentially allowing all rent over a period of time to be reset to market rents." Labour's housing spokesman Conor Sheehan, meanwhile, suggested that the measures announced by Government "will throw renters under the bus". He suggested that there was anecdotal evidence that landlords were already putting up rents ahead of the introduction of nationwide rent controls and the change to RPZ legislation next March. He added: "This government does not care about renters and when it claims it cares about renters, it is gaslighting renters. "The confusing, incoherent, ill thought out measures that they introduced last week, or said they would introduce, are going to send rents skyrocketing."
RTÉ News
7 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Dáil to debate emergency motion on housing and homelessness
The Dáil will tomorrow debate an opposition motion calling for emergency action to address the deepening housing and homelessness crisis. A Raise the Roof protest will take place at the gates of the Leinster House to coincide with the motion which has the support of Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, PBP-Solidarity, several Independent TDs and the Green Party. It is calling for a dramatic increase in public housing investment and it is seeking to have stronger taxes imposed on vacancy and dereliction. The opposition motion wants greater protections for private renters through the freezing and cutting of rents and it warns against any changes to the Rent Pressure Zones that would increase rents. There is also a call for the reintroduction of the ban on no fault evictions and to fully restore the Tenant in Situ scheme. Sinn Féin's Eoin O Broin said tomorrow's protest will be the first in a series of rolling demonstrations across the country. While Labour TD Conor Sheehan's revealed there is anecdotal evidence that landlords are hiking rents in the aftermath of the Government's reform of the Rent Pressure Zones which he described as incoherent and confusing.
The Irish Sun
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
‘Shambles' rent reforms move blasted as Govt accused of ‘making it up as they go along' amid landlord price hike fears
THE Government's rent reforms have again come under heavy fire after no Dail time was scheduled for the emergency legislation next week. The decision, which was heavily blasted, was made despite claims that landlords will jack up prices before the regulations change. 2 The Government has been accused of 'making it up as they go along' Credit: Getty Images - Getty Part of the plan will see the two per cent cap on However, there are fears that landlords in the 11 counties that are currently not designated rent pressure zones will pump up their prices before the Following this criticism, the Government announced that they were introducing the new rent reforms in two separate pieces of legislation with the rent pressure zone extension to be dealt with in an emergency bill as soon as possible. READ MORE IN NEWS Coalition leaders denied claims that they were caught out by the blunder with Tanaiste However, the Labour housing spokesman Conor Sheehan claimed the Government were 'making it up as they go along' with rental reforms that he labelled 'a shambles.' He said: 'It's crazy that in an effort to calm the horses the Tánaiste was clearly making it up as he went along to avoid the ire of the Opposition. Most read in Irish News 'Well, I have news for him and for the Housing Minister, their disastrous treatment of renters will not be forgotten for a very long time.' Sinn Fein chief whip Padraig MacLochlainn said: 'The failure to include legislation for next week's Dail business demonstrates once again the shambles at the heart of the government's housing policy.' Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin O Broin reacts to record number of homeless people Housing Minister James Browne today defended his rental reforms and claimed that 'there were a few moving parts' to the legislation. He said: 'There's always going to be a challenge around the complexity of doing anything like this, there's no one size fits all to bring a solution to this kind of complex situation.' The Irish Property Owners Association today also took aim at the Government rental reforms as they claimed the changes could hit house prices and damage tourism. The IPOA also claimed that landlords who currently have vacant properties are enticed to keep their property empty until the new changes kick in on March 1 next year when they will be able to rise their rents to market level. 2 The Government's big rental reform strategy was launched this week Credit: Getty Images - Getty
Irish Independent
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
No-fault eviction ban will not apply to half of all tenancies, warns Rory Hearne as opposition vows to fight rental changes tooth and nail
Rory Hearne of the Social Democrats warned they would lead to increased rental costs and incentivise evictions, adding: "Renters will pay for Government policy failures." He said the no-fault eviction ban will not apply to at least half of all tenancies. "Unfortunately, it gives more power into the hands of landlords, and it is very much a pandering to the lobbying power of landlords. "There are huge loopholes here. It appears that tenants of large landlords will have no-fault protections, but tenants of smaller landlords – at least half the market – will not be covered. "In these cases, we will see thousands and thousands of renting families exposed to higher rents and it will, as Focus Ireland said, be incentivising evictions." Labour's housing spokesperson, Conor Sheehan, said renters had been "thrown to the wolves" and also "thrown under the bus', saying there are more holes in the Government's no-fault evictions ban 'than there were in the Titanic'. He said owners of four properties were being called small landlords, "which is the most Fianna Fáil thing I've ever heard in my life'. "In my view, a small landlord is somebody who has one additional property. I think somebody who has more than one additional property is a professional landlord and should be treated as such. "I don't think what's being proposed is going to achieve much. I think it's the worst of both worlds, both for renters and also for investors. "Giving somebody a no- fault eviction ban for a limited six years is ridiculous. It creates a multi-tiered rental system, along with exempting new-build apartments from the rent caps." There is no guarantee that any new supply will emerge from the proposed changes, he continued, adding, "and if new supply emerges, then you can be guaranteed it will be unaffordable'. He said Labour had been consistently calling for rent pressure zones to be extended to the whole country since 2016 when they were first introduced. "We were told that was unconstitutional. And I think it's important to cast our our minds back that far, because that is how long things have been continually getting worse at every single turn." It follows a meeting last night, where Government leaders agreed on a new system of national rent control. Under the plan, Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) are to be extended across the country to cover every tenancy. The current system, which caps yearly rent increases at 2pc or in line with inflation, will be retained for existing tenancies. This 2pc cap would no longer apply to newly built homes, which would instead have a cap linked directly to the rate of inflation. This measure is aimed at increasing the rate of private sector investment in building more rental homes. But significantly, every area of the country will now be designated as an RPZ under the new national rent control system, meaning the remaining one fifth of tenants in Ireland not in an RPZ will benefit from rent controls. Leaders also agreed on stronger security of tenure protections for renters. This, it is understood, will include an end to no fault evictions in the case of large landlords. Landlords are also set to be categorised according to the number of properties they own with smaller landlords to be categorised as those with three or fewer properties. According to proposals going to Cabinet, landlords will only be allowed reset rents if the tenant leaves voluntarily. If a landlord serves a tenant a notice to quit, the landlord will not be allowed reset the rent. The move will aim to remove the economic incentive for landlords to evict tenants. The move to expand the RPZs is seemingly one that goes against the recommendations in the report from Housing Commission. In its report last year, the commission said while the rental market was both challenging for both renter and landlord, the RPZs were constraining landlords. According to the report, it said the impact of RPZs has been mixed and the commission recommended changes to the system. In particular, the report said the RPZ system should be reformed and a new system of 'reference rents' be established instead. This would be landlords would be limited on how much they could increase rent by, and would be based off things like the size of the rental property and where it is located. The commission also said regulations should continue between tenancies. 'If a tenancy ends the same regulations apply to the subsequent tenancy. This will discourage termination of tenancies that is designed to increase rental income,' the report said. As reported in the Sunday Independent, the Government was considering new rules which will allow landlords to significantly hike rents beyond the current caps. Under original the proposals, landlords would be allowed to increase rents to market rates in between tenancies of at least six years. While current tenancies are expected to remain under the RPZ regulations, the cap would not apply to newly built apartments. Currently, rents in a Rent Pressure Zone can only be increased by 2pc or in line with inflation, whichever is lower. First introduced in 2016 to control the rapidly increasing rents in high demand areas like Dublin and Cork, it was a major intervention in the market. Since then, the scheme has steadily spread across the country with most areas now considered an RPZ. Almost ten years after they were first introduced, and with the current regulations are due to expire at the end of this year, it had been anticipated that the current rules around RPZs would change. The Government continues to be under pressure on the issue of housing, with the rental sector a major focus, as the opposition has swooped on the issue. Raise the Roof campaign will hold a rally outside Leinster House on Tuesday next week at 6pm, calling for urgent Government action on Ireland's housing and homelessness crisis. The rally is timed to coincide with a Private Members Motion tabled by Opposition parties in the Dáil, and will feature speakers from political parties, alongside a series of singers and spoken word performances. The Raise the Roof campaign group is coordinated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and includes trade unions, housing and homeless agencies, women's groups, human rights advocacy groups, and community organisations. Speaking at a press conference to launch the rally, Ethel Buckley, SIPTU Deputy General Secretary said: 'Ten years into the housing crisis, and that crisis remains the greatest political failure of our time. Workers are being priced out of homes or can only rent or purchase with considerable financial burden. 'In the last 10 years rents and house prices have doubled - and in some areas more than doubled - while wages have increased by less than 40%. If anything, this gap has widened in the last couple of years. Rents and house prices are out of control. 'Alongside the human cost of this, we are seeing the serious knock on effects, with thousands of unfilled vacancies in key sectors, and young people once again choosing to emigrate. 'We are deeply concerned at the lack of urgency shown so far by this new government. A government that is content to play the role of helpless bystander to this ever-worsening emergency. What is needed now is a radical reset with sustained action to deliver secure, affordable housing.'
