SINN Féin Limerick TD Maurice Quinlivan has commented on the publication of the latest Daft.ie rental report for the second quarter of 2021, which indicates that rents have increased by 5.6% across the state. The biggest increase since the middle of 2019.
Teachta Quinlivan said:
“The latest Daft.ie report makes for grim reading. It shows that the average asking rent across the state is now €1,477, 5.6% higher than the same period last year.
“Rents in Dublin are up 0.5%, however, across the rest of the country, in 17 counties, rents have increased by more than 10% in one year.
“For example, Average rents, and year-on-year change, in Q2 2021 sees Limerick city rents rise to an average of €1,337, up 9.8% on last year and these rises are unsustainable.”
“The report also indicates that rental supply is extremely low which confirms to me what my constituents tell me every day, that they can’t find anywhere to rent in Limerick. Supply is extremely low and rents are historically high.”
“Minister Darragh O’Brien has now been in office for over a year and the rental crisis is worse than it was under both Fine Gael housing ministers Simon Coveney and Eoghan Murphy.
“If the government had done what was necessary and banned rent increases at an earlier stage, and backed two Sinn Féin bills, which would have prevented rents rises so, many hard-pressed renters would have been saved from these rent hikes.
“As it stands, we do not know how many of the 390 cost rental units promised for this year will actually be delivered.
“The Minister’s Housing for All Plan has been delayed due to wrangling between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
“The government must commit to a dramatic increase in capital investment in affordable housing to rent and buy. They must also ban rent increases for three years, and introduce a refundable tax credit for renters that would put one month’s rent back in every renter’s pocket.
“We need to see affordable cost rental homes delivered at scale where they are needed. We also need the Minister to commit to investigating the disorderly exit of landlords from the market.
“Darragh O’Brien needs to take this crisis seriously as, under his watch, things are getting worse, not better. Many Limerick renters are already under huge pressure, the fact that supply is so low and rents so high means that so many people are simply unable to rent a place to live.”
