Sinn Féin TD for Clare, Violet-Anne Wynne, has expressed concern following the publication of a Daft.ie report that has shown rent prices in County Clare have risen 2% to €814 on average for a 3 bed semi-detached house.

Teachta Wynne said:

“I am shocked to see that the average rent prices in Clare have risen across the board.

“The average price now for a 3 bed semi-d will cost €814 – up around 2% on the previous 12 months.

“It will now cost you a shocking €641 on average to rent a 1 bed in County Clare, up 6% on the previous year.

“This is a truly worrying trend. I am concerned that these prices are getting out of hand.

“This is just €40 behind the average rents in Limerick.

“We have seen a lot of people coming forward to my office who are presenting as homeless because they can no longer afford these rising rents.

“These hard-pressed workers and families also find themselves stuck in the middle of the systems where they cannot afford rents, but they are also are above the threshold to avail of housing supports with the Clare County Council.

“We need to regulate the private housing market. The Government approach of letting the market regulate itself has clearly not worked.

“It is also time to review the rent caps for applying for local authority housing supports, these caps have not been reviewed since 2011 and have not been adjusted for inflation.”