Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin TD has criticised the Government for having ‘no plan for the private rental market’.

Teachta Ó Broin’s comments come as the latest Residential Tenancies Board rent report shows rents are still rising, despite the pandemic.
 
The Dublin Mid-West TD said:
 
“The latest RTB rent index shows rents are rising in all but two counties. While the state wide and Dublin increases are at 2.5% and 2.1% on last year, increases outside Dublin are very troubling.
 
“The Dublin commuter belt counties have seen a 5% rent increase in the last 12 months. Nine counties have seen increases above 4%, with Leitrim being hit with an 11% increase, Longford with a 9.9% increase and Carlow experiencing an 8.3% increase.
 
“Rents should not be increasing. In fact in many other European countries rents are static or falling. What the latest RTB figures show is that our rental market continues to be completely dysfunctional.

“Worse still, the Government clearly has no plan to deal with the problems in the rental market. We have rising rents and falling rental properties – all of which is a recipe for further turmoil.
 
“We urgently need Government to set out their long term plan for stabilising the rental market and increasing security and affordability for tenants.”