Renters being ‘screwed’ by changes to rental system, says McDonald

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said that renters are being “screwed” by planned changes to Ireland’s rental system.

Much of the political chatter in Ireland this week has been dominated by planned government changes to the likes of rent pressure zones and landlords being given more rights than tenants under new laws.

McDonald said “what this government is about is screwing renters.”

The first major decision of this government, and what they are willing to spend major political capital on, is an attempt to get a handle on the housing crisis that was a major issue in the 2020 general election and has now become the defining social issue of modern Ireland.

Plans were brought before Cabinet on Tuesday (10), which looks to enact the most sweeping changes to Ireland’s rental laws in a generation.

Under the new plans, Rent Pressure Zones, which were introduced in 2016 as a temporary measure, will be extended but with more incentives given towards private developers.

Landlords of tenancies created on or after March 1, 2026, will be able to reset the rent levels to market rent between tenancies, and landlords of tenancies created on or after the same date will be able to reset rent levels to market levels at the end of each 6-year period.

The government’s balancing act approach has been criticised by McDonald.

“At a time when government should be acting to cut rents and to ban rent increases and when people across the state fork out, on average, new rent of €2,000 a month – here in Dublin rent can hit €3,000 per month or even higher – instead it creates a new opportunity for tens of thousands of landlords to jack up their rents.”

“The government claims that landlords will only be allowed to reset rent to the market rate if a tenant leaves voluntarily; tens of thousands of renters leave tenancies voluntarily every single year.”

“Under the governments proposals, as one renter walks out the door they will be replaced by another whose rent will have ballooned. Students will be among the first hit by its actions. 

“Finding affordable rental accommodation has been a constant struggle for students and their families. The government is now ensuring this will be even harder and that students and their families will be ripped off even more every year.”

“Worse still, the Government explicitly allows all existing landlords to reset rent to full market rate every six years – that is essentially the death knell of rent pressure zones,” she told the Dáil.

Calling the moves “balanced,” Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “the reforms will strengthen the rights of new and existing tenants in Irish society, that is a central part of the reform.”

McDonald said, “the disappointing thing is everybody knows rents are extortionate at this point. The job of a responsible Government is to ensure a cut in rents and to ban rent increases.”

Social Democrats TD and housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said that renters are being made the “sacrificial lamb” for investor funds under the government’s new plans.

The Dublin North-West TD said that every six years, “rent regulation as we know it will effectively be wiped out, with landlords free to raise rents to the market rate.”

“The government’s press release explicitly states that all landlords may reset rents every six years – the Taoiseach must issue a clarification on this matter, or admit that this is government policy.”

Calling the government’s plans “vague”, Hearne said the plan “expressly designed to hide rent resetting between tenancies, which will lead to skyrocketing rents.”

“It’s incredible that the government is planning even more favourable treatment for vulture funds than already exists, funds which have so much power they may influence how the market rate in a given area is set.

“These rent increases will drive even more families and their children into homelessness – how can the government even consider doing this when homelessness numbers are already at record levels?”

He said that the government has “caved” to the lobbying of institutional investors and landlord representative groups.

“Our young people are paying the price for enticing these funds in, which the Housing Minister made clear when he said this policy is an “activation measure for international investors”.

“This is a policy shift back to the institutional investor funds – it is making build-to-rent corporate landlords central to housing policy.”

Hearne noted that the Residential Tenancies Board was not mentioned in the government’s plans, with no indication if the RTB were going to receive an increase in funding to carry out their duties.

“The no-fault evictions ban should be available to all renters and implemented immediately – the rent cap between tenancies should be retained, and, crucially, we must see a freeze on rents for three years.”

Dublin’s housing crisis was brought into sharper focus this week after Minister for Housing James Browne pulled the plug on nearly 250 social homes in Dublin.

Minister Browne announced that the government would not proceed with the awarding of contracts for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Bundle 3, citing concerns over the value for money.

Among the most affected are developments in Ballymun and Whitehall, where 93 homes for older people on Shangan Road and 83 general needs social homes on Collins Avenue were scheduled for construction.

The Shangan development, which had full planning permission and preparatory works already carried out, was due to begin this summer. 

The delay has disrupted the carefully planned timeline, leaving local communities frustrated.

Local People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy was quick to criticise the decision, calling it a “damning indictment of the Public-Private Partnership model.””

“These projects were meant to be near shovel-ready, now they’re in limbo and for what?” the People Before Profit councillor said.

“PPPs are complex, expensive, and built around private profit, not public need.”

The Ballymun-Finglas councillor said, “communities like Ballymun and Whitehall can’t afford these delays. In the middle of a housing emergency, we need urgency, not more reviews, strategy changes, or excuses.”

Reddy pointed out that the Ballymun-Finglas area has one of the highest levels of housing need in the city, but the slowest rate of delivery. 

He expressed further worries about the type of housing being delivered, citing a lack of three- and four-bedroom homes suitable for larger families.

“We need a new approach: direct public delivery of social and affordable housing, built by local authorities and funded by the state — not outsourced to speculators,” he said. 

“In the longer term, we need a state construction company to deliver at scale on public sites.”

Labour famously walked from coalition talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael before Christmas when it became clear that their demand for a state construction company was not going to be entertained by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

After weeks of the typical drip feed from government about failed housing tsar appointments and the like, the first big decision of this government’s term is already facing severe pushback from oppositon benches.