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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has shot down calls for a rent freeze after a new report has shown that rent prices have risen by 5.2% in the past year.

Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin and Sinn Fein TD Donnchadh O Laoghaire have called on the Irish government to introduce a rent freeze after record high rent prices.

Martin accused Fine Gael of ‘failing young people’ while O Laoghaire said working people were being ‘crushed’ by skyrocketing rent.

‘Surely it is now time for the government to consider a rent freeze and compose a rent freeze, given the exorbitant levels of rent that people are facing,’ Martin said today at Leaders’ Questions.

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However, the Taoiseach has said that increasing the supply of social and other housing is the solution, not a rent freeze.

‘A rent freeze might work for people who are renting already but might cut supply of rental properties and people who have to rent for the first time could run into difficulty and that could be counterproductive,’ said Leo Varadkar.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers (Ireland) Limited, t/a dmg Media Ireland Rent Freeze

The calls for a rent freeze come after a report released by Daft.ie on Tuesday which found that rent prices have risen by 5.2% in the past year with the average price of rent now at €1,403 per month.

Michael Martin has demanded a complete shift in housing policy after the statistics released may predict another eight to 10 years of ‘high rent misery’.

Varadkar acknowledged that rents have reached unaffordable plains for many people but cited a report by economist Professor Ronan Lyons which stated that an end might be near for Ireland’s high rent run.

He also promised that there would by 10,000 social houses built this year with an extra 12,000 social houses built next year.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers (Ireland) Limited, t/a dmg Media Ireland Rent Freeze The Taoiseach also mentioned the help to buy scheme which has ensured that ‘15,000 young people have been able to raise a deposit and supply is now coming on stream’.



‘Fundamentally, that is the solution,’ Varadkar said, as opposed to a rent freeze.

Sinn Fein’s O Laoghaire said that the Taoiseach was ‘what you’re telling people is you’re still drowning but you’re drowning slower’.

However, Varadkar argued that a rent freeze may lead to ’cause less new supply’ in the rental market.

‘There’s a real concern about the unintended consequences of a rent freeze,’ he said.

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