Minister for Housing Simon Coveney has said he will be publishing a new strategy for the rental sector next month which will aim to address high rents.
However, he indicated he would not introduce rent-certainty measures as part of his plans to tackle spiralling costs.
This week the latest quarterly rental report from the property website Daft.ie showed rents rose nationwide by an average of 11.7 per cent in the year to September. This was the largest annual increase in rents ever recorded by the website which began its reports in 2002.
Speaking as he launched pillar three of the Rebuilding Ireland programme which aims to tackle the housing crisis, Mr Coveney said: "The balancing act from a policy perspective is to respond to unsustainable rent inflation which is causing huge problems for a lot of people and at the same time ensuring that we do not put the dead hand of regulation on the construction sector and stop any momentum that is starting to build."
The Minister said the main problem with the rental sector was the lack of houses in urban areas.
Mr Coveney indicated controlling rents could prevent some developers and builders from constructing rental accommodation. “That is a different balancing act. We are consulting with a lot of people to try and get it right.”
The Minister was speaking as he announced plans to fast-track the delivery of 30,000 homes over the next three years.
Crisis
Fianna Fáil
spokesman on housing Barry Cowen said the measures were included in the Rebuilding Programme announced in June . He said Mr Coveney had become focused on PR and had failed to address the housing crisis.
The TD said: “25,000 new homes need to be built each year to meet demand, including a minimum of 10,000 in Dublin. However, fewer than 11,000 homes have been built nationwide, with less than 3,200 of these being in Dublin.
“These figures speak for themselves – Minister Coveney simply has not done enough to tackle the most significant barriers to new construction.”
Meanwhile, Mr Coveney faced a robust meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party on Wednesday night. The Minister was criticised for the Government's handling of a Bill proposing a referendum on the protection of water services.
Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and a number of Independents supported the legislation in the House.
Public ownership
It is understood TDs claimed the commitment to public ownership was included in the confidence and supply deal with Fianna Fáil. Members said Mr Coveney should have insisted on the party’s support.
The Minister confirmed an expert commission examining the future of water charges would be reporting back within two to three weeks.
Louth TD Fergus O'Dowd told his colleagues he had suffered electorally because of the party's position on the levies.
Minister of State for Housing Damien English urged the party to stand firm on its commitments to retain water charges.
The meeting discussed Fianna Fáil’s “flip-flopping” on the issue, and members were urged to “expose” the party’s changing stance.
The commission is examining the future of water charges and will issue a recommendation to Mr Coveney. It will then be sent to an Oireachtas committee for examination, and a final decision will be made in the Dáil.
