People Before Profit say they will use their Private Members Time in the Dáíl this Wednesday to debate their Rent Reduction Bill.
The party say the purpose of the Bill is to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to reduce rents to affordable levels by limiting them to a maximum of a quarter of median monthly household income and to establish a National Rent Authority to oversee this and related matters.
Luxury accommodation is excluded.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD, the party’s spokesperson on housing, said:
“The Rent Reduction Bill which we will use our Private Members Time to debate is an essential piece of legislation which all parties and independents must support.
“Rents in this country are now through the roof with many thousands of people finding it impossible to find rented accommodation or the ability to save for a mortgage.
“The situation in this country is untenable.
“We have corporate investors now signaling that they will further increase the rents on top of the already exorbitant rents they currently charge.
“This is in the context of a cost of living crisis where people are now close to breaking point.
“This bill is essential to make rents affordable- along with the provision of public housing on public land.
Only through radical measures like this where the state steps in to protect people from the private market can we begin to fix our broken housing and rental market.”