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.

The scarcity of properties is contributing to increasing market rents, which were an average of 10.3% higher during the final months of 2021 than the same period in 2020.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said during Leaders' Questions that renters were "battered, bruised and exhausted", and called on the Government to take immediate action.

Cut rents by means of a tax credit, putting €1,500 back in renters' pockets, and ban rent increases for three years," she said.

"You could have done this at one time, you chose not to," she said, adding that the crisis had become a "social disaster".

Likewise, Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy said it was "plainly obvious" the Government's housing plans are not working.

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

"The solution has been designed, really favouring cuckoo funds over the individual homebuyer," she said. 

I mean, the obvious thing that has happened here, do you ever question that you might get this wrong? 

"Fianna Fáil has been wrong before. You're talking to the wrong people, or you're taking the wrong advice.

"It's only going to be a question of time before we see people young people queuing up at the airport to leave this country and they're going to be doing that because they can't live in it."

Ms Murphy called for a three-year ban on rent increases.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin admitted that "rents are too high" in reply to both party leaders.

"The purpose of Government policy is to dramatically increase the supply of homes," he said.

"Thirty-one thousand starts happened in 2021, the highest number of housing starts since 2008.

Now, we're going to continue with that acceleration of building, if we're allowed, and if people remove the obstacles and allow us to get housing and apartments built.

"There will be a very large public housing programme, 10,300 on average, is what we want as part of that 33,000 overall houses to be built every year.

"It's easy to be political about this, I understand it fully. We've got to make sure we do the right policies for the long haul here. We cannot develop housing policy for the next election as to who wins and who doesn't."