Holly Cairns: Rents Soar, Student Offered €12,000 Upfront

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Just care quarter.

[00:00:02]Today we got news that we all knew was coming.

[00:00:05]The government's new rent rules have already driven rents to a record high.

[00:00:11]Rising at the highest rate in a quarter of a century.

[00:00:15]Year-on-year they're up 7% in Dublin, 13% in Cork, and a whopping 18% in Galway.

[00:00:24]We told you this would happen and these measures would undermine renters and you said it was quote a ridiculous assertion.

[00:00:31]Now it's renters who are paying the price.

[00:00:36]Tisha Lauren Keena worked hard, sat her leaving cert in 2025 and got her dream course in Galway.

[00:00:44]Because she knew she couldn't afford to live there, she put her life on hold for a year and worked full-time to save up.

[00:00:50]I spoke to Lauren yesterday after seeing a video she posted online in tears at the heartbreaking struggle to find a place to live in Galway.

[00:00:59]She has tried everything.

[00:01:02]Hundreds of emails, viewing after viewing, applying on rent.ie, daft.ie, agencies, private student accommodation, digs, every avenue possible, but nothing.

[00:01:14]After nearly a year on a waiting list for private student accommodation, she was finally offered a studio, but the condition was 12,000 euro upfront for 9 months. No monthly installments allowed.

[00:01:28]12,000 euro upfront. Tisha, how is anyone supposed to afford that, let alone somebody fresh out of secondary school?

[00:01:38]Lauren said something else which stuck with me. She said she feels embarrassed.

[00:01:44]Tisha, no young person should feel embarrassed to be in this situation.

[00:01:49]Your government should be embarrassed for failing them.

[00:01:54]Right now, this feels like a country with no vision for young people, no place for them, and no future they can afford.

[00:02:03]What are they supposed to do?

[00:02:05]Work harder?

[00:02:07]Save more? They're already doing that, and it is not working because the housing system is fundamentally broken.

[00:02:17]Tishk, we've all been knocking indoors on go away, so I'm sure you've seen the same thing that I have. Everywhere you look, there are lock boxes hanging from houses turned into short-term lets.

[00:02:25]Houses that could be homes for students, for workers, for young families.

[00:02:29]Instead, they are Airbnbs going for extortionate rates, while young people like Lauren are left crying into their phones, wondering what they're supposed to do.

[00:02:40]Tishk, at what point are you going to admit that Ireland is becoming a country that young people simply can't afford to live in? And will you now admit that your rent rules have been a disaster?

[00:02:52]Tishk, please. First of all, again, deputy, rents have been too high for far too long.

[00:02:59]Any economist would say there's only one way to deal with this, and it's supply.

[00:03:05]We need more supply, and we need it more rapidly.

[00:03:07]The government has taken decisions that will ensure over time, and it's going to take time, and I will set it at the time, to get more supply.

[00:03:15]Sorry, look, with respect now, I didn't interrupt you.

[00:03:17]I don't interrupt. And I'm I haven't interrupted anybody here.

[00:03:21]I want to make this point.

[00:03:23]I have This is a fair point. I've looked at your proposals. There's nothing in your proposals that would increase supply over the next 3 years, anything over and above what the government is doing. In fact, it would be less.

[00:03:35]I've looked at your state construction idea company. It's 3 or 4 years down the line before anything come out of that. We already have a land development agency, which is 14,000 in the pipeline.

[00:03:46]So, I know people got real here.

[00:03:48]It's all very well doing the sloganering, And we all know the the crisis out there in The government is taking decisions in this factor of it.

[00:03:55]That that I I had substance behind them.

[00:03:59]Cuz we need to get to 15,000 per annum.

[00:04:01]I've seen nothing anywhere across the house outlining how you propose to get there as alternative proposals to what the government's proposing.

[00:04:08]So, we've activated local authorities, approved housing bodies, the land development agency, and yes, the private sector. You are totally opposed to the private sector having any role in housing. That is your party position.

[00:04:20]That is your party position.

[00:04:21]And you said it all the time, Deputy Hearn. You've been saying it, Deputy Hearn. And you That That's true.

[00:04:29]No. The rules are the rules. This is leaders' questions. If you're not happy with the leader that you have, ask him the question. Maybe you consider changing that, but respect the answer that's to the question that's been asked. We will continue now. We've about Could I say with the RTB data shows we've about 246,000 tenancies, the highest on record. Now, in terms of the depth data in it, it's it it it it indicates, you know, in in in terms of asking prices, but it's not a comprehensive The RTB does more comprehensive uh data set in terms of the entirety of the market. Uh and I think one has to look at look take these figures with some degree of care, as the author himself acknowledges.

[00:05:10]That the report has to be taken with some degree of has to has examined with with with with care.

[00:05:17]Um and and that that has to be said. And as far as we're concerned, the the the bottom line here is we want rents to moderate. We want to get them down.

[00:05:25]The bottom line is what was happening over the last 4 to 5 years prior to the change was not sustainable. You know that. The Housing Commission said it wasn't sustainable. The ESRI said it wasn't sustainable. And everybody accepted it wasn't stable. And therefore, certainty had to be given to the market. And also, additional protections. Now, the the the in In of existing tenancies, they haven't been impacted in any shape or form, but it's the same extent. Deputy, I am not going to tell you again. But that won't get said.

[00:05:57]And we're talking in terms of the newer tendencies here.

[00:06:00]We need more supply.

[00:06:01]>> Deputy Haughey, will you please leave if you can comply?

[00:06:11]Deputy, please.

[00:06:13]T-shirt, the confidence with which you try to state the Social Democrats' policies on housing is honestly astounding when you consider that you're coming in here on a day where there's news that rents have gone up more than they ever have since records began. And that's in the context of a housing crisis that's turned into a housing disaster and then into a catastrophe where there are record levels of homelessness, where rent prices, house prices, and homelessness are all going in one direction under your government.

[00:06:42]And then you stand up in here and say that our plans would do damage.

[00:06:47]Your response and your rhetoric on housing is now ringing about as hollow as your election promises. Time after time, piece of legislation after piece of legislation, they come in here, the same thing happens. The opposition warn you.

[00:07:02]We tell you this will bring up rent prices.

[00:07:05]You do this big how dare you doubt my bona fides thing, and then rents go up. And then you come in here and spout out these lines about how the opposition's It is [clears throat] not credible. This government has no credibility. T-shirt.

[00:07:19]I don't think your proposals are credible.

[00:07:21]They're so sparse. They're so lacking in detail. They're not fleshed out. I genuinely don't think the Social Democrats' policies on housing are credible. You talk about a savings and investment scheme.

[00:07:32]Like sorry. Sorry, it would take years to implement, you know that.

[00:07:36]The issue here isn't funding.

[00:07:38]The state has put up 9 billion.

[00:07:41]So sorry, but what I'm saying though, you know, you let's go let's talk about the savings of this capital portfolio.

[00:07:46]How would that bring rents down next year? How would it bring rents down the year after? It wouldn't add one additional supply of housing until about four or five years time, even if you got the additional funding. That's the point I'm making. You're a housing construction company. It's so poorly fleshed out.

[00:08:01]Look, I don't mind having a debate about housing. If you don't want to listen to the answer. No, we're no we're not.

[00:08:07]Absolutely not. No, we're not. Deputy T-shock, please. Excuse me. This is not a back and forth. I suggest Deputy Hearn, you go away and you learn the rules of the house. The standing order for leaders questions is a back and forth between the leaders.

[00:08:21]Do you have a difficulty with that?

[00:08:22]Because at any stage, if you can't comply with the rules or the chair's direction, you're free to leave as is any member.

[00:08:29]Now, we have a lot of business to do today and I intend to get on with it if you wish to finish T-shock.

[00:08:35]I would just just to make the point that research with the RT has made it, you know, in terms of if you compare like with like and apples with apples in terms of the other data reviews that have taken place, it's a far different story in terms of the impact existing tendencies in particular. Thank you.