Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The latest report from the Residential Tenancies Board published earlier this month shows rents in County Roscommon have increased by 8.6% and in County Galway by 9.4%. That is just in the last year alone. Average rents in County Roscommon are now over €718 per month and in County Galway rents have surpassed €1,000 per month and are now approximately €1,300 per month. Rents are out of control. They have been out of control for a long time now and they are only going in one direction. Yet, this Government is doing nothing.

The Government can reiterate the help-to-buy scheme as many times as it wants but it does not tackle runaway rents and it does not reduce rents. For the couple who came to my constituency office in Ballinasloe last week, whose landlord is increasing their rent by €200, the extension of the help-to-buy scheme means nothing. The scheme means nothing to renters. Budget 2022 came and went. It did nothing for renters, who are working families and individuals working just to pay rent, skyrocketing energy and food costs and everything else on the increase. I know so many people in their 20s who emigrated after college because there was nothing here for them. There are, perhaps, jobs coming on stream now, but they cannot take them because there is nowhere here for them to live. They will not risk coming home to pay skyrocketing rents that can increase on a whim.

On my way home yesterday I was listening to an interview with a person who is thinking of returning home and was looking at a new rental development in Dublin that is pet-friendly. This person has two cats. There is an additional charge of €75 per cat per month, which is an additional €2,000 per annum on top of the rent per annum for himself and his partner. This is a joke. It has gone out of all proportions and the Government has not acted. It needs to act now.

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