Minister accuses opposition of whipping up 'false anger' on Rent Pressure Zones
The opposition has been accused of 'whipping up anger' and creating 'confusion' over the Government's plan to reform Rent Pressure Zones.
It follows suggestions that the Government will be 'jacking up the rents for tens of thousands of hard-pressed renters from March 2026 onwards'.
Legislation to extend Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) nationwide was expedited through the Dáil on Wednesday and will be rushed through the Seanad on Thursday in a bid to get the legislation signed into law by the end of the week.
The change will mean that no landlord across the country will be able to increase rent by more than two per cent, or the level of inflation, whichever is less.
A new regime will come into place from next March, which will create six-year tenancies. Once these are up, or if a tenant leaves the property voluntarily, landlords can increase their rents to market rates.
Housing Minister James Browne confirmed on Tuesday that rents for students who live in private rental accommodation for the duration of an academic year will be able to be increased if they leave the property voluntarily.
The RPZ plans were torn to shreds by the opposition, with Sinn Féin's housing spokesman branding the announcements in recent weeks as 'utter shambles'.
He said: 'In my entire time in Dáil Éireann, I have never witnessed a more haphazard, ramshackle, back-of-the-envelope process for putting in place widespread reforms that are going to impact tens of thousands of people.
'While I understand Ministers and Ministers of State have to come here and defend this farce, privately they must be absolutely reeling.
'The credibility of the Government's housing policy has once again been exposed as an absolute sham.
'Only five months into the job, the Minister's own credibility has been badly damaged.'
He continued: 'Let us call it by its name. It is the Fianna Fáil rent hike Bill. This is Micheál Martin, who initiated this process and pulls the strings of his Minister, jacking up the rents for tens of thousands of hard-pressed renters from March 2026 onwards.'
In response, Minister Browne accused the opposition of
He said: 'What the opposition are trying to do, in a really dishonest way, is trying to deliberately create confusion and to whip up false anger among people, to whip up anger among people for pure political ends, putting politics before people.
'It's such a dishonest way to approach things, so it is.'
Minister Browne further said that while there had been a lot of criticism, the opposition had failed to put forward alternative solutions.
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