Eoin O'Brien

We know from RTB data that about 25% of tenancies registered every year are new tenancies and they get registered throughout the course of the year.

So that means in the first quarter of this year, we only had one month of the market rent reset

In the next quarter, we'll have three months and then another quarter and another quarter.

And that is going to continue over a number of years as people move out of the private rental sector, as people are evicted from their homes for various reasons.

So the fear many of us have, and it's borne out by the data,

is we're now moving to a situation where double-digit rent increases become the norm.

And for me, the crazy thing here is, by focusing on a poorer quality, more expensive private rental, the government is actually ignoring the really big housing deficits at the supply side.

We keep making the case that unless they dramatically increase and accelerate the delivery of social...

and genuinely affordable homes, but also do far more to activate the small and medium-sized builder-developer sector in every county in the country to double their supply of private homes to purchase, this is not going to work.

This government is punishing renters in the middle of a cost of living crisis, and they are not addressing the fundamental problems underlying our housing crisis.

Well, first of all, the government is already driving small landlords out of the market for over a decade.

And one of the things I'll challenge, and Seamus' point, is that we are blue in the face setting out both immediate short-term emergency measures and longer-term structural reforms to address supply.

Not just Sinn Féin, but the Housing Commission and the government keep ignoring those.

So what do we need from government right now to address this escalating crisis?

One, we do need a ban on no-fault evictions for an emergency period where homeless services are overwhelmed.

We do need a temporary ban on rent increases and for rents to be brought down.

But also crucial, government needs double investment in delivery of social and genuinely affordable homes to meet the need that's there.

Government also needs to do far more to support small and medium-sized builder developers, build more work homes for working people to buy.

Seamus will stand up for the Dáil week after week and demand government do more on social affordable housing.

You can't then come in here and say that's actually doing enough.