He said there will be further “more permanent” rent caps.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has rejected the idea that the Budget does nothing for renters, saying that there is a “constrained supply”.
The Minister avoided questions about the 2022 Budget largely ignoring rent controls during a press conference on Tuesday, telling reporters that he has brought five pieces of legislation on renting.
During the post-Budget conference Minister O’Brien also said that he is working on further “more permanent” changes to rent caps than the linking to inflation.
He said the new caps which will be “more significant” than the previous cap, will be announced over the coming weeks.
It comes as Sinn Féin hit out at the Government for what they called a “con job” Budget, labelling the current administration as “out of touch”.
TD Pearse Doherty said that the pandemic exposed weaknesses in society and strongly criticised the carbon tax increase announced for the 2022 Budget.
“The pandemic has exposed weaknesses in our society, in our public services and in our economy,” Doherty said in Dáil Éireann on Tuesday.
“During the General Election of 2020, people voted for change, and that desire for change was only strengthened during the pandemic.
Doherty added that workers and families have been dealing with the rising cost of living, unaffordable childcare costs, and “rip-off rents” as well as the cost of basic goods and services “remaining stubbornly high” for “some time”.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s Mairéad Farrell said that the government has helped to create “new situations” that put people at risk of homelessness.
“Somehow, you’ve managed to push house prices back to 2007 levels and out of the reach of many,” she said.
“The highest rents in Europe, you have also presided over the biggest increase in homelessness in the history of this state.”
Main Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie.
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