Opposition demands tax credits for renters and ban on rent increases

'You could have done this at one time, you chose not to,' Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told Micheál Martin.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said renters were 'battered, bruised and exhausted'. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

The Government has been called on to introduce a tax credit for renters, a freeze on evictions, and to rein in investor funds in an effort to tackle spiralling costs in the sector.

Fewer than 1,400 homes were available to rent at the beginning of February, with the shortage of homes countrywide pushing rent inflation to a two-year high.