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RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Bill passed extending Rent Pressure Zones across country
The Dáil has agreed to pass a piece of legislation without a vote which will extend Rent Pressure Zones across the country. The bill will go to the Seanad tomorrow and it is expected to be signed into law by President Michael D Higgins on Friday. The Government rejected amendments to the bill which were tabled by Sinn Féin and Labour. The legislation will mean that all current renters will be covered by a 2% annual rent hike cap once the bill is signed by the President. Wider changes to the rent rules will be introduced next March and this will require further legislation to be passed in autumn. Opposition parties have stated that they will not support these more extensive rent reforms which will allow landlords to reset rents to market rates every six years. Minister for Housing James Browne has said that renters will get greater security of tenure as part of the changes. Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin earlier described the 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 was 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". The board investigated 16,052 tenancies for excessive rent hikes and €70,911 was returned to tenants following 114 compliance interventions, he added. Connolly accuses Govt of normalising homelessness "We have turned language on its head", Independent TD Catherine Connolly said of the Government's claim to protect renters, when the reailty is that it is normalising insecurity and homelessness. "We are in serious trouble as a republic. More and more in Ireland, there's a lack of faith in anything the Government says," she told the Dáil. "We stopped building [houses] in 2009," Ms Connolly said, adding that the housing crisis is a consequence of repeated decisions made by successive governments which treated housing as a product and simply backed the market. She said that her office is struggling to manage the level of housing problems that constituents are presenting with.
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
‘A total shambles' – renters will be the losers due to market reforms, Dáil told
TDs are this afternoon debating the Government's laws to designate the entire country a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ), which will bring in rent caps to all properties. This will cap rent increases per year at 2pc or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Most opposition parties are supporting the laws, having called previously for the entire country to be designated an RPZ, but they also are putting forward their own amendments. Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said 'renters will be the losers' as a result of the changes. He said the plans were 'total shambles', 'haphazard' and 'back of the envelope'. 'You're going to make things worse in the short term,' he told the Dáil. He predicted there would be higher rents and no guarantee of increased supply. Mr Ó Broin said the 'best case scenario', which is aimed at driving fund investment in apartments for rent, would 'modest levels' of investments from abroad. His party colleague, Louise O'Reilly, told the Dáil how her father had attended the housing protest outside of Leinster House yesterday. She said he campaigned 56 years ago for better housing and that he had thought he would not have to still be doing so, five decades later. Labour TD Conor Sheehan said the announcement of the rent reform plans was 'nothing short of shambolic'. ADVERTISEMENT 'What was proposed last week nearly caused a run on the rental market,' he said. He said it 'really shows how weak' the Government was. Social Democrat TD Rory Hearne said the housing market didn't operate like any other market and it shouldn't be treated like it did. 'It's delusional thinking, it's market-like thinking that doesn't apply,' Mr Hearne told the Dáil. He said people 'need a home and people will pay whatever they can' to get one. 'Relying on institutional investors to provide a key source of housing is absolutely a wrong measure.' Junior housing minister Christopher O'Sullivan said the Government was bringing forward the laws quickly 'because renters need protection'. He said linking rents to inflation would be 'an immediate and concrete protection against high rent inflation'. 'We want to provide certainty, clarity and stability for the rental sector. The new policy measures announced last week to apply from March 1 will boost supply of homes.' He said laws would be brought forward later this year to give effect to the changes kicking in from March 1, which would include removing the 2pc rent cap from newly built apartments. New tenancies created after this date will be able to be set at 'market value' but will have 'far greater' protections for renters.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
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".
The Journal
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Sinn Féin defends view that extending temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees is a 'mistake'
FRONTBENCH SINN FÉIN TD Eoin Ó Broin has defended his party's stance that people fleeing the war in Ukraine should not have their temporary protection extended until 2027. Last week, the Irish Government signed off on plans to support a proposal to extend the temporary protection directive for refugees from Ukraine until March 2027. The directive, which enables those fleeing the war in Ukraine to live, work and study in Ireland, was due to expire in March 2026. In a press statement issued last week in response to the Government's decision, Sinn Féin's justice spokesperson TD Matt Carthy said it was a 'mistake' and 'problematic' to keep the emergency measure in place. The Cavan Monaghan TD said it is 'now time to treat those fleeing war in Ukraine the same as all others fleeing war and persecution'. Advertisement He said the decision to extend the protection has 'huge implications for Ireland and yet there has been absolutely no discussion on it'. He said Sinn Féin's position is that there should be a return to 'ordinary, permanent immigration rules which apply to all other states' and that a person who benefits from temporary protection should be supported to return to Ukraine if they are from a part of Ukraine 'that is found to be safe'. 'Beneficiaries who are from unsafe parts of the Ukraine would apply for International Protection and others who wish to continue to stay here could also apply for work-based permits to reside here,' Carthy said. Asked today by The Journal how Sinn Féin would differentiate between parts of Ukraine that are safe and parts that aren't, Ó Broin said: 'Those decisions are made every day in the international protection system'. Asked to expand on the rationale behind Sinn Féin's position more generally, Ó Broin said people from Ukraine need to be provided with a pathway from temporary protection to 'full residency'. 'That's beginning to happen already, and we're beginning to see a number of Ukrainians apply for and secure international protection. 'Temporary protection is always meant to be temporary, and therefore people need to have a pathway to legalise their status if that's what they want to do, and that's why we'd like to kind of move out of the temporary phase and into something a little bit more secure,' he said. 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 Examiner
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Government carrying out an 'all-out assault on renters'; Opposition prepares Raise the Roof campaign
The Government's interventions in the housing crisis have become an "all-out assault on renters", Eoin Ó Broin has said. Sinn Féin's spokesperson on housing said an emergency response is needed to address the housing emergency created by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Opposition TDs are calling on the Government to drastically increase investment in public housing to meet social and affordable housing needs. A motion is to be moved on Tuesday evening during Sinn Féin's private members time and is supported by Social Democrats, Labour, People Before Profit, and the Green Party. It identifies five key areas of action that Mr Ó Broin said the housing minister could include and implement immediately as part of his housing plan: increase and accelerate delivery of social and affordable homes; protect private renters through freezing and cutting rents and no changes to rent pressure zones (RPZs) that would increase rents; stronger taxes on vacancy and dereliction and greater use of compulsory purchase orders; restore and increase funding for homeless prevention schemes such as tenant in situ and Housing First; an emergency response to rising homelessness including re-introducing ban on no-fault evictions. Labour's Conor Sheehan said the Government's attempt to incentivise institutional investors will not guarantee housing supply and any supply that is delivered will be completely unaffordable. The plans announced last week are confusing, incoherent and ever-changing, he said. In the days since the Government announced plans to reform rent controls, Mr Sheehan said he has witnessed "hundreds of landlords around the country" posting on websites saying they would immediately be hiking their rents. The housing minister also came under fire following the withdrawal of funding from local authorities for 500 social housing units in recent weeks with Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman citing it as an example of the Government's panic. "The Government has been in absolute panic mode about housing ever since it became clear that it would not meet its housing targets," said Mr O'Gorman. A Raise the Roof protest is set to be held outside Leinster House on Tuesday evening to coincide with the motion being debated in the Dáil. It is set to be the first in a number of demonstrations to be held around the country in the coming weeks with another planned for Cork City this Saturday. Read More Rental sector changes will encourage landlords to evict tenants, Focus Ireland warns
