Local Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has urged the Government to immediately introduce an emergency three-year ban on rent increases for existing and new tenancies.
Deputy Stanley said that renters in Laois/Offaly need immediate support.
He said: “The latest figures from the Residential Tenancy Board show that the massive increase in rents in the two counties cannot be sustained by a lot of renters.
“The Government must also put a full month’s rent back in every private renter’s pocket and increase supply of affordable homes to rent and buy.
“Families, workers and young people deserve and need secure and affordable housing, and affordable rents.
“Yet last week’s report from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) told us what we all knew – that there has been a shocking increase in rents across Laois/Offaly under the watch of this Government.
“Sinn Féin’s proposal to cut rents and freeze them would have prevented these increases.
“Instead, Government inaction saw new rents in Laois increase by 11.4% in the past 12 months and by a shocking 14.5% in Offaly.
“Fine Gael have been in Government for 12 years, and Fianna Fáil have been propping them up for seven years. But what these figures further underline is that neither party cares about renters.
“The housing crisis continues to go from bad to worse under their watch, rents are at an all-time high and rising, and the Government has missed the social and affordable housing targets three years in a row.
“They tell us they are making an impact on housing. Unfortunately, that impact is just putting affordable housing and affordable rents further out of reach for people. Is it any wonder that so many of our young people who cannot afford this level of rent are emigrating?’’
“This week, TDs in Laois/Offaly had the opportunity to show they are on the side of struggling renters by supporting Sinn Féin’s motion. Unfortunately, they refused to do so.
“Our motion, brought forward by Sinn Féin, called on the Government to stop ignoring this racketeering and to immediately introduce an emergency three-year ban on rent increases for existing and new tenancies.
“We are also telling them to put a full month’s rent back in every private renter’s pocket and to increase supply of affordable properties to rent and buy.
“These are immediate steps that they can take, but only a change of Government, a change of housing policy and Sinn Féin as Housing Minister will allow us to start cleaning up the mess of decades of bad Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy.”
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