BUDGET 2016: Tenants left uncertain on rent control

Hard-pressed tenants have been left in the dark over the future of Environment Minister Alan Kelly’s mooted rent certainty plan after Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin twice declined to say if he still supports the measure.

The senior Labour minister refused to say if he still backs the plan, if it will form part of his party’s imminent election manifesto and who “shot it down” after the popular policy to tackle surging rents failed to make it into budget 2016.

Speaking at a post-budget press briefing alongside Finance Minister Michael Noonan, Mr Howlin said there is no “fundamental difference” between Fine Gael and Labour over the proposed policy to address surging rents.