Opposition criticises 'terrible' pace of new rental legislation 

'This government is so slow that it has to be deliberate', said Labour TD Conor Sheehan

Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin also criticised the Government, saying that his party will resist attempts to "rush" legislation through the Oireachtas. File picture

Opposition parties have criticised the slow pace of publishing legislation that will bring about changes to the rental system.

The Government in June last announced plans to introduce new laws that would require landlords to disclose the amount of rent charged to tenants, as part of a slate of reforms to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

The legislation will provide for the establishment of a new rent price register, similar to the Property Price Register that tracks the sale of homes. 

Government announcements at the time said the legislation was expected to be enacted quickly, with the new laws due to operate from March. The general scheme of the bill was approved in October. 

However, the full legislation was not presented to ministers at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, with government sources accepting that it will likely be guillotined to be operational by March 1.

Labour's housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan said this approach is unacceptable.

"This does not surprise me at all. The bill is a mess, and the minister is adamant it will go through. The Dáil will sit until after midnight in two weeks, and no amendments will be debated.

This is a terrible way to do legislation and a terrible way to do such a complex and important bill that has real-world impacts on people and their ability to keep a roof over their heads.

"The minister won't engage with our amendments, if we even get to them. This government is so slow that it has to be deliberate. They push and guillotine it when they want to push through laws."

The only certainty is that this bill will push up rents, he claimed.

Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin also criticised the Government, saying that his party will resist attempts to "rush" it through the Oireachtas.

“This will be a very complex piece of legislation with a profound and negative impact on tens of thousands of renters. Any attempt to rush the Bill through the Oireachtas will be strongly opposed by Sinn Féin. Both the Dáil and the Housing Committee must be given sufficient time to debate the legislation and propose amendments to the Bill. 

"Given how controversial this Bill will be, I am not surprised that the Government is planning to rush the legislation. 

They are clearly trying to avoid public scrutiny of a bill whose primary purpose is to allow rip-off rents to rise to even higher levels.

A Department of Housing spokesperson said that the General Scheme of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2025 is "now the subject of priority drafting by the Office of Parliamentary Council" and that there has been adequate preparation for the laws to be enacted and in place smoothly by March.

"The Bill will amend the current system of rent controls and provide new measures to protect tenants, including stronger security of tenure, to come into effect for new tenancies created on or after March 1. 

"As part of the legislative process, the pre-legislative scrutiny report has recently been produced by the members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and has been issued to the Department of Housing for consideration within the last week.

"The text of the Bill will be finalised for publication as soon as possible."

• Paul Hosford is Acting Political Editor.