Will there be a teacher's strike in the autumn?
Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:
Pope Francis
passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 88. Thoughts now turn to the
election of his successor
and whether they will be
viewed to be as tolerant and progressive
as the late pontiff.
Minister for Education
Helen McEntee
has her work cut out for her to keep secondary school teachers onside with both the Teacher's Union of Ireland and the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland
voting to ballot on industrial action
if plans to reform the Leaving Certificate from this September are not paused.
And the
Government has told RTÉ
that State funding of more than €60 million for its
redundancy plan
will hinge on the broadcaster hitting yearly targets as it reduces its headcount.
Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week:
Bill Clinton on a polarized America
30 years on from the Oklahoma bombing
, Ireland needs to
tread carefully with the EU
on tariffs, and have we reached an
empathy crisis
?
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RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Fraught days ahead for Government with planned changes to RPZs
The next few days will be fraught politically. The Government is preparing what it believes is an intricate balancing act between renters' rights and developers' ambitions. The logic underpinning this is that enhancing tenants' rights can be delivered in tandem with less strict rent caps. Therefore, investors will get back to building more homes and ultimately the supply shortage can be eased. The backdrop to this move is record high rents and the growing feeling among many that the social contract has been broken. It all suggests that this will be a hard sell. Opposition parties already believe that renters are being thrown under the bus. It is all part of the long awaited redraw of the Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) where the annual rent hike is capped at 2%. In new buildings that cap will now be scrapped and instead rents will be linked to inflation. The proposal, which Minister for Housing James Browne will bring to Cabinet, will also allow landlords with existing properties to reset rents for new tenants to the market rate. After that they would be subject to the current 2% cap. In exchange tenants will get security of tenure for six years in a move that the Government believes will bring an end to no fault evictions. Questions are already being raised about just how secure current tenants are under these new changes. On the surface, at least they do not appear to be subject to significant change. However, Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin believes the proposals will put tens of thousands of tenants with pre-2022 tenancies at risk. That is because their landlords can evict them for no reason at the end of their six-year tenancy under the law as it stands. That means these landlords would have the right to reset rents to new market levels after these tenants' six-year tenancies come to an end. This is one of many pertinent questions about the changes that will inevitably lead to heated exchanges in the Dáil next Tuesday.
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Will the new rental reforms work? Many industry observers are sceptical
What's happening to the rules governing renting? A proposed overhaul of rules is going before Cabinet on Tuesday morning. It would see a significant shake-up in the rental market in the months ahead. What are the current rules? Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) were introduced in 2016 to cap rent increases in areas where there was a very high demand for housing and rental homes. Initially, RPZs were confined to large urban centres but, as the housing crisis deepened, more and more areas were designated RPZs. In these locations, as it stands, rent increases cannot be greater than the rate of inflation or 2 per cent – whichever is lower. What are the changes proposed? The Government is planning to keep the caps for existing tenancies, at least to a large degree, while easing restrictions on rent increases for newly built homes. The plan – and it has yet to be agreed – would see the current RPZ annual caps not apply to new buildings constructed after a certain date, with the rents in qualifying properties instead to be tied to inflation. [ Rent controls to be eased for new builds in planned 'pressure zones' reform Opens in new window ] And why would the Government create what looks like a two-tiered rental system? In fairness, there is already a two-tiered system, with some properties in RPZs and some not, so what the Government is considering is a three-tiered system. READ MORE What is the market currently like for rents? Rents are climbing faster than at any point over the past 20 years, with the national monthly average between January and March surpassing €2,000 for the first time, according to a report from That compares to a low of just €765 in 2011. Why are rents climbing so fast? Much of that increase is down to a lack of supply. There were just 2,300 homes available to rent nationally on May 1st, down 14 per cent year-on-year and the third-lowest total for May in 20 years. In a properly functioning market that number should be closer to 10,000. Why is supply such an issue? There are many, many reasons but the author of the report, Trinity College Dublin economist Ronan Lyons, has said changes made to rent controls in 2021 when rent caps were reduced from 4 per cent to 2 per cent 'dramatically reduced the ability of Ireland's rental sector to attract the capital needed for new supply, the ultimate remedy for the shortage'. And this overhaul is aimed at attracting that capital, is that correct? That is the rationale, certainly. The thinking is that if rent restrictions are eased for new apartments, more money will pour into the sector and more apartments will be built, which will ease the pressure on the market as a whole. Will the owners of these new builds be able to charge what they want? They will be able to charge what the market will bear, for sure. However, there is some good news for people who are renting now: under the proposals the existing cap of 2 per cent will remain in place – at least for existing tenancies, but landlords will be able to increase the rent to the market rate between tenancies, something which is not permitted under the current rules. [ Ireland's rising rents: 'Our budget would have been €1,300 a month, there isn't even anything listed for that' Opens in new window ] Surely that will incentivise landlords to evict their current tenants so they can get new ones in and charge them more? That is undoubtedly a fear. Under the proposals going before Cabinet, there will be more protections put in place for renters for a minimum of six years. During that period, there will be restrictions put in place on no-fault evictions. At the end of a six-year period, a landlord will be able to reset the rent to the market rate. Opposition parties have questioned the adequacy of these planned protections. Will the changes work? That is the big, big question. It is undoubtedly in the Government's interests that it does work. Part of the Government's pitch to voters in the run-up to the last general election was that the State had turned a corner on housing and that the supply of new homes would hit 40,000 in 2024. Completions instead fell by 7 per cent to 30,000. Housing commencements, which indicate future supply, have also fallen off a cliff, with housing starts in the first quarter of 2025 eight times down on last year and at their at their lowest level since 2016. The rate of building when it comes to apartments is even worse. What are interested parties saying about the proposals? Many are unconvinced. The housing charity Threshold has welcomed the degree of security it will give to tenants if restrictions on no-fault evictions are imposed for a six-year period. However, it stressed that it could actually push more people into homelessness if the RPZs are diluted. Opposition parties have been lining up to give out about the proposals. Those voices will only get louder between now and next Tuesday when full details are outlined. The initial reaction from landlords and property investors is that there is little in the plans to support them in the short to medium term. Industry sources have also said that the new measures are 'partial ones' and contain levels of uncertainty that may not encourage the envisaged money to come in to the sector.
Dublin Live
4 hours ago
- Dublin Live
Protest held in Dublin over lack of additional needs education provision
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Scores of people have taken part in a demonstration in Dublin calling for action over a shortage of education provision for children with additional needs. It comes after a number of children with autism have not yet received an allocated school place. The Equality in Education protest assembled at the Garden of Remembrance, with many holding banners calling for equality in education provision. It comes after the group slept outside Leinster House in April to highlight the issue. A number of representatives from Opposition parties were in attendance. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said the children are being failed. 'These are children who have an equal right to a full education as any other child. They have parents who in many cases have written literally dozens of applications to various schools only to be told that their child cannot be accommodated,' she said. 'They have mounted a campaign which has seen them sleep outside the Dail… they're here today to simply say that no child should be left behind. Every single child is entitled, socially, morally and legally to an appropriate school place. 'The Government talk a lot about the needs of people with disabilities, they're talking about prioritising the needs of children, well, we're not seeing that here, what we see here are stressed-out, traumatised and very, very distressed parents, and children who are being failed comprehensively. That needs to change. 'Government is well aware of this issue.' Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice . For all the latest news from Dublin and surrounding areas visit our homepage.
