Rents soar while Government turns blind eye
Rents soar while Government turns blind eye - The Labour Party
– RTB report shows same old, same old from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael
Labour’s Housing Spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD has said the latest Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) report shows Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are completely out of touch with the reality of Ireland’s housing crisis. The RTB’s Q2 2025 rental index revealed a 5.5% increase in new tenancy rents over the last year, with the national average now standing at €1,680 per month. Deputy Sheehan has called for immediate Government support for Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill to provide real protections for tenants.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“This RTB report confirms what every renter in Ireland already knows – nothing has changed. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil continue to treat renting as a temporary phase of life, ignoring the fact that for a huge number of people, renting is a long-term reality.
“It’s abundantly clear to me that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are totally out of touch with the reality of the housing crisis. This is a huge generational issue, one they simply don’t understand. With rents now exceeding €2,000 in many areas, an entire generation feels locked out of home ownership, trapped by spiralling rents and rising living costs.
“Rather than addressing the issues at the core of this crisis, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil prefer spin and bluster. They have failed to take decisive action to support renters and their political choices have consistently favoured developers and large investors, leaving ordinary renters without security.
“This is about political will and Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill offers real progress for renters. Our Bill will ban no-fault evictions, implement a three-year rent freeze, and introduce a Rent Register to bring much-needed transparency to the market. Crucially, it will strengthen security of tenure for renters. Right now, the bar for evicting good, hard-working tenants is far too low. Families are being uprooted at short notice, forced to move with little or no justification. This has to stop.
“We need to break the developer-led mindset of this and the previous Government. Their continued reliance on private development will not fix the housing crisis, no matter how much they pretend otherwise. State-led, public housing initiatives must be prioritised if we are serious about delivering affordable, secure homes.
“I welcome the RTB review into persistently high rental prices in new tenancies in Co Galway, which the RTB has committed to following concerning trends highlighted in their latest index. However, this must be matched with clear and urgent action from Government. Renters cannot continue to be treated as second-class citizens. We need immediate clarity on changes to Rent Pressure Zones and a commitment to finally back renters, not landlords.”