Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:146. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to do to address the month on month rises in homelessness. [18167/26]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Housing Provision
On Friday, the Minister's Department published the latest homelessness figures. They show record highs of homelessness, with more than 17,000 people, including more than 5,000 children, homeless. Since Deputy Browne has been Minister, homelessness has increased by 12% and child homelessness has increased by a significant 16%. Will the Minister set out what additional actions he intends to take to reduce the flow of adults and children into homelessness and get people into emergency accommodation more quickly?
I thank the Deputy for his question in relation to my plans to address the month on month rise in homelessness. Addressing homelessness is a priority for my office, the Department and this Government. Our new housing plan is an integrated housing and homeless plan based on two key pillars: activating the supply of 300,000 more homes; and supporting people to have a home of their own.
Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness. The Government is focused on making sure everyone has access to a good quality and affordable, secure home that suits their needs in their local community. More than €9 billion in capital funding will be made available for housing in 2026. Our new plan recognises that homelessness is the single most pressing social issue we face and introduces a number of key measures to address homelessness. Ensuring the implementation of these measures will be a priority for me in 2026.
Meeting the Government commitment to eradicate homelessness requires a whole-of-government response. The national homeless action committee, NHAC, which I chair, supports the co-ordination of this response by Government, local authorities and their service delivery partners. The most recent meeting of NHAC took place yesterday, on Wednesday, 4 March. I will continue to work with the committee to ensure a renewed emphasis is brought to collaborating across Government to implement actions in the new housing plan.
Prevention of homelessness in the first instance is an absolute priority. There are many prevention initiatives already under way in my Department and across Government. This includes the provision of social and affordable housing, HAP, homeless HAP and our strong tenancy protection legislation in order to ensure a fully aligned all-of-government approach under the plan. The programme for Government includes a commitment to a holistic cross-departmental approach to homeless prevention. Work has commenced on developing a national homeless prevention framework to ensure all possible measures are being taken across Government to prevent homelessness. It is intended that this framework will be in place later this year.
Addressing family homelessness is absolute priority for me. Under the new housing plan, we will develop a dedicated child and family homeless action plan as well.
The Minister's party and Fine Gael have effectively been in government together since 2016 and since then the total number of adults who have been forced into emergency accommodation because of their failed housing policies numbers 55,000. I ask the Minister to think about that for a moment. That is more than a capacity crowd at the Aviva Stadium. It is greater than the population of Longford or, indeed, of Drogheda. Rather than this being the Government's priority, the policies it is implementing are making this crisis worse. It is not delivering a sufficient volume of social and affordable homes. It slashed funding for vital homelessness prevention schemes last year, and this year it has reduced funding further and further restricted its use for tenant in situ. The Government has introduced a set of changes to rent setting in the private rental sector that is going to widen the gap between what people can afford and the market rents. Given that we have 20,000 or so eviction notices a year, more families and singles are going to end up homeless. I asked the Minister what new or additional measures he is going to take but he has not given any. For the second time, I invite him to tell us what he is going to do differently this year than last year to get a grip on this crisis he is making worse.
I have already outlined the several of the measures we are taking. Through our national homeless action committee along with homeless organisations, we are developing new strategies around child and family homelessness, and there are also our programmes around other homeless prevention. What the Deputy does not mention when he mentions the 55,000 figure is how many we have prevented going into homelessness or how many we have exited from homelessness. Since 2014 this country's population has increased by some 800,000 people. That is a challenge. We acknowledge there is a housing crisis in this country. What we are doing is trying to ensure people have the homes they need in their local community. There has been a challenge in driving the supply to meet the demand in this country over the past number of years. We saw a significant increase in homes being delivered last year, more than 36,000 homes and a 20% increase in housing delivery. We are stepping up even further in homeless prevention and exits and have significantly increased the amount of capital funding available to exit people longest on our homeless lists out of homelessness as well.
Yet the numbers of adults, children, families, singles and pensioners continues to rise almost every single month. By pushing up market rents, this is going to get worse. When we published our analysis based on RTB data of the cost of the market rent reset, the Minister rubbished it. He said it was not true. Yet, we already have evidence. A few days after the introduction of the new change, a tenant renting a one-bedroom apartment in Leopardstown moved out. The apartment was being rented for just over €2,000 until the middle of February. The property went back on the market on 1 March and the rent increased by 15%. That is almost an extra €4,000 in rent being charged, exactly in line with the RTB data and our analysis.
The Government is allowing additional funding to be used for homeless exits but it is robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is reducing the funding to prevent people from becoming homeless. What it gains in exits, it will lose in preventions and more people will become homeless. None of what the Minister has said is new. Is he going to take any new different measures to get a grip on this crisis that he and his party colleagues are making worse?
I have set out numerous new measures we have announced in the past number of months to address homelessness. We know the only way we are ultimately going to address the housing, rental and homelessness crises is through increasing supply and not calcifying these crises in permanency, as is proposed by Sinn Féin with its measures. In the new tenancy legislation, we have some of the strongest, if not the strongest, tenancy protection measures in the European Union. We have security of tenure - people know how long they can stay in their homes. This was introduced for the first time in the history of the State. We have effectively ended no-fault evictions for the majority of tenants.
The Minister has not in his own constituency.
That has now been brought in. The only way a landlord can increase their rent with an existing tenant leaving is if that tenant voluntarily leaves and the Deputy is very much aware of that as well. We have to drive the supply. The Deputy is finding all sorts of accusations in relation to our proposals but he is not putting any forward himself other than calcifying the crisis in permanency.
Housing Provision
Conor Sheehan
Ceist:147. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the action he proposes to take to address the growing housing deficit given that Government never met their targets for social and affordable housing delivery under Housing for All; if he will revise the targets contained within Delivering Homes, Building Communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17104/26]
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I want to ask the Minister today about the targets for social and affordable housing delivery under Housing for All. Given that it has become abundantly clear that the Government will not meet the targets this year, and it has never met them for social and affordable housing, will the Minister revise the targets contained within the new housing plan in order to take account of this and deal with the growing housing deficit?
I thank the Deputy. Under Delivering Homes, Building Communities, the Government is targeting the delivery of 300,000 new homes by 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable supports. The latest Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures released show that a total of 36,284 new dwellings were completed in 2025, an increase of 20% year on year, the highest annual total since the dataset years began in 2011. Record level of social and affordable housing delivery have been achieved in recent years, with preliminary 2025 figures indicating further record levels of delivery.
Since 2019, new-build social housing delivery by the State has been tracking in and around 25% of the overall housing output, which is a very significant investment by the State in the provision of social housing. In conjunction with growing cost-rental delivery, it puts the State in a very strong position to meet, over time, the Housing Commission recommendation that social and cost-rental housing should comprise at least 20% of the entire housing stock.
I am confident that the new social and affordable targets set out in Delivering Homes, Building Communities can be achieved, supported by tangible measures set out in the plan, including streamlining and expanding affordable housing supports; the new single approval process for all new-build social housing projects up to a value of €200 million; mandating the use of standard house layouts and specification for social housing; and facilitating the use of modern methods of construction through standardised design approaches. We have also introduced a revamped renewal programme focused on tackling dereliction and vacancy in social housing; expanding the role and remit of the Land Development Agency; expanding and streamlining the operation of the land acquisition fund; financially incentivising local authorities to exceed annual own-build social housing targets; and funding ring-fenced social and affordable new-build housing delivery teams in each local authority.
In addition, the housing activation office will identify and seek to address barriers to the delivery of public infrastructure projects required to enable housing development and support increased delivery of the national development plan. Record levels of funding have been committed for new social and affordable housing totalling almost €20 billion.
The Minister's rental reforms are going to increase homelessness, certainly in the short term. One of the leading issues in regard to addressing homelessness is having an adequate supply of social and affordable housing. Based on the quarter 3 construction status report, the Minister is only going to, as of that date, meet 30% of his target for social housing delivery. In 2024, 10,596 were delivered against a 12,930 goal. Is the Minister going to revise the targets he has for an average of 12,000 new social homes in his current housing plan in order to deal with that deficit? The targets in that plan are too low given the demand that already exists, given the issue with the Minister's rental reforms and given the fact that a 56% increase in social homes is needed just to close the deficit.
I do not accept that the new legislation is going to drive up homelessness. We know that notices to quit are the single greatest driver of homelessness. We know that the average tenancy is about 3.6 years. The new six-year tenancies of minimum duration will, I have no doubt, drive that 3.6 years significantly longer and reduce notices to quit, with people coming in and needing housing under new tenancies.
In regard to last year, just over 36,000 new homes were built. Some 25% of those were new-build social homes. That shows the Government is fully committed. Most local authorities are now stepping up to the mark in delivering social homes but we need every local authority stepping up to meet its targets because the funding is there for those local authorities to deliver on those social homes. What we did last year was deliver 9,089 new-build social homes. That is an increase of 1,256 homes, or 16% compared to 2024. This is the highest number of social homes newly built in the history of the State. That shows the Government's commitment to new-build social home delivery.
Going by the Minister's response, he is saying that 9,289 new-build social homes-----
It was 9,089.
There were 9,089 built. That is still, over the lifetime of Housing for All, beneath the target of that plan. I am asking, in particular, about the 2026 budget allocation. For example, that does not take into account that there was an underdelivery of around 4,000 units under the previous housing plan and the Minister has already underestimated the level of need in his new housing plan. He has not actually taken into account that the figures suggest that overall, under Housing for All, the Government did not reach its targets.
The fact of the matter is that the Minister's measures are already having an effect in his own county. We have not seen housing assistance payment, HAP, levels increase and the market rent reset is going drive rents up and increase homelessness because people will not be able to pay the rent.
I do not think it can be glossed over that last year, we built the highest number of new-build social homes in the history of the State. What has to be understood is that-----
The Minister missed his target again. What was the target? He missed the target.
-----we were coming from a standing start because the Deputy will know-----
The Minister has been in government for a decade.
Stop trying to shout me down, please.
The Minister missed his targets. He should be honest.
Deputy Ó Broin.
The consistent Sinn Féin tactic is whenever I say something they do not want to hear, they start shouting me down. The Deputy has to have respect. He does not have to like what I have to say but he has to listen to me.
I do not think I shouted.
And it continues.
I politely interjected. The Minister's target was 10,000 and he missed it.
Deputy Ó Broin.
The Minister did not meet his target.
Is the Deputy going to let me speak? I thank the Deputy. It is the highest number of new-build social homes in the history of the State but we came from a very low standing start. As Deputy Sheehan will know, the last time the Labour Party had the Department of housing-----
The International Monetary Fund, IMF, was there.
-----it built 75 new-build social homes in the entire State.
The IMF was there because Fianna Fáil crashed the economy.
Deputy Sheehan.
We have taken that from 75 to 9,089.
Fianna Fáil crashed the economy.
We left them with too many houses; that was the problem. The Labour Party turned a crisis of too many homes into one of too few in four and a half years. Well done.
Fianna Fáil slashed capital funding for social housing.
I ask the Minister to resume his seat. If that continues, I am just going to move on to the next question. The Deputies are asking the questions. The Minister is attempting to answer and if that crossfire continues, I am not going to allow it. Show some respect for what is going on here. We will move onto the next question and I ask the Minister to not interrupt Deputy Ó Broin.
Housing Schemes
Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:148. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to address the unaffordability of cost rents. [18168/26]
The price of cost-rental accommodation is far too high. There is a growing number of working people, singles and couples, who earn too much to access social housing but because of the application of the affordability rule, they are not able to access cost rental. Can the Minister confirm that he shares my concern with respect to this matter and set out what he is going to do to assist the Land Development Agency, LDA, and approved housing bodies to bring down the cost of cost rental so it is affordable for all those people seeking to access it?
I thank the Deputy for raising this question in relation to the unaffordability of cost rentals. As the Deputy is aware, the cost-rental scheme was introduced by this Government under the previous housing plan and is continued and expanded in the new plan. It is designed to address the affordability challenge in the rental sector and to provide secure, long-term homes for moderate-income households. This is why, under the new Delivering Homes, Building Communities plan, we have committed to growing the provision of affordable cost-rental properties.
Though cost rental was only introduced in 2021, over 4,500 new homes were delivered by quarter 3 of last year and a substantial pipeline is now in place.
There is huge demand for these homes as they become available. While we are not yet at the stage of supplying as many as are needed, we are getting there. The cost-rental homes already delivered and those in the pipeline are meeting a real demand, are incredibly popular and are providing a much needed, secure and affordable element in the rental sector. Let us be clear that cost-rental housing did not exist in this country five years ago. From a standing start in 2021 to now, because of the action of this Government and the unprecedented levels of funding provided in successive budgets, rental properties are being made available at heavy discounts to the private market rental rates. This State intervention is ensuring those on moderate incomes who would otherwise not be able to afford to rent are moving into decent homes with monthly rents they can afford.
We are providing substantial funding to local councils, the LDA and the approved housing bodies, AHBs. Since the launch of cost rental in 2021, approximately €2.25 billion in Exchequer funding has been approved for cost-rental projects. Beyond my Department, significant funding is also being provided by the State's Housing Finance Agency. The lowering of VAT on new apartments to 9% in budget 2026 will also assist in delivering new homes to the cost-rental sector, with lower costs meaning lower rents. The nature of my Department's funding in the form of non-repayable grants and investments and long-term loans at extremely low rates means rents can be set below full cost recovery levels and far below comparable rents in the private market.
Earlier this week the Minister visited Oscar Traynor Road, where there are two- and three- bedroom cost-rental units. The two-bedroom units cost almost €1,600 per month and the three-bedroom units cost almost €1,800 per month. That means people need a net income of €54,000 to be able to access the two-bedroom units and €64,000 for the three-bedroom units. This tells us that a huge group of people who are not eligible for social housing, but whose incomes are below those levels, are locked out.
Approximately 26% of applicants to the LDA's cost-rental stock are excluded on affordability grounds. For three-bedroom schemes run by local authorities and AHBs, it can be as high as 50%. The Minister has not even acknowledged there is a problem. We are all strong supporters of cost rental. If the Government had listened to us or to such organisations as NESC and the ESRI in the past, we would have been doing this a decade or more ago. However, right now, there are thousands upon thousands of working people who cannot access social housing, do not earn enough for cost rental and have no housing options. Does the Minister accept there is a problem? What will he do to address it?
The visit to Oscar Traynor Road was a huge day. It was great to see a huge turnout. As the Deputy will be aware, the scheme has a mix of social, affordable and cost-rental units. It is a significant mix. If I recall, there are approximately 850 homes being delivered there in total and they are being delivered ahead of schedule. It is one of many large schemes now being delivered by Dublin City Council. Cost-rental schemes are oversubscribed. I am trying to ensure - I am keeping a close eye on this all the time - that there is a scaling in affordability so that people can access the homes they need in line with what they can afford, whether that is through social housing, affordable purchase, cost rental or helping people to be able to buy homes with the help-to-buy scheme and the first home scheme under which people can purchase homes themselves. That is what we are looking to do on the affordable side and we are always monitoring the various schemes.
The Minister's response is genuinely remarkable. He does not even accept there is a problem despite the fact that the data from the AHBs and the LDA confirms it. What is worse, LDA tenants are effectively paying corporation tax as part of the rent. That amounts to 15% of the rent they pay. Although the LDA has been given an exemption from corporation tax for new developments, that will not be passed on as an affordability measure, as per the Government. Worse, the LDA has just hit almost 500 of its tenants with rent increases that are entirely unjustified and those increases will range between 2% and 5%. This is at a time when rents should be coming down.
I will give the Minister a third opportunity to respond. There is a growing number of people who earn too much to qualify for social housing and not enough to qualify for cost rental. Does he accept this is a policy problem his Department needs to examine? Does he accept, for example, that solutions such as passing on the corporation tax reduction and discouraging cost-rental landlords from increasing the rent would assist in tackling the genuine affordability problem for thousands of working people?
I very much have answered the question. We are always assessing the various schemes that come under the Department of housing to ensure there is availability for people at various levels of income. These schemes are way oversubscribed. We need even more cost-rental properties. That indicates there are people who fall into that bracket. We need to ensure, as I said, there are social, affordable, cost-rental and other schemes, whatever they may be, and the private supports we provide to people to be able to buy homes. I keep all those things constantly under review to keep a balance and that is what I will continue to do. I will continue to keep it under assessment.
I call Deputy Hearne on Question No. 149.
With 21 seconds left, the Minister cannot accept there is an affordability problem.
Does Deputy Hearne wish to put his question-----
That is utterly shocking.
-----or will I just move on to the next one?
House Sales
Rory Hearne
Ceist:149. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to ensure transparency in the home-buying process, to curb ghost bids and gazumping, and to curtail bidding wars that are leading to higher house prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18166/26]
House prices are completely out of control and have been for a long time. They have increased by 68% since 2020 when Fianna Fáil took over the housing Ministry - 68%. In Dublin, the median price of a home is €500,000. That is half a million euro for a home. What is the Minister doing to address the issues that are contributing to inflation in the market, such as dysfunction in our housing market, ghost bids, gazumping and opaque bidding processes? What is he doing to address that?
I thank the Deputy for his question, which centres on the home-buying process including ghost bids, gazumping and bidding wars. I recently took over responsibility for the Property Services Regulatory Authority from the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. It regulates property service providers, including estate agents. Estate agents already have to comply with key statutory obligations regulating the home bidding process under the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011, which provides they shall not imply to any person that an offer has been received unless it has in fact been received; they must retain for a period of six years a record of all bids received; and they must confirm in writing to all potential purchasers receipt of their submitted bid. Furthermore, where the Property Services Regulatory Authority receives a complaint alleging fake bids, it has powers to request a copy of all bids received - the record of bids document - and has investigative powers to ensure those bids are genuine.
The ESRI published a report last month, Buying and Selling Property in Ireland, which outlines how aspects of the Irish housing transaction system influence buyer and seller behaviour and provides insights on features of the Irish market that warrant consideration for reform. The matters raised in the report overlap policy, legislative and regulatory areas across the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and my Department. Along with my colleague, the Minister for justice, who has responsibility for the conveyancing process, I will reflect on the recommendations in the report. Any reform proposals will require deeper examination, including assessing impacts on the balance of rights of sellers and buyers in areas such as when a bid becomes legally binding; the rights of buyers to get an independent survey after bid acceptance; where legal responsibility for repair sits after the sale of a property; the merits, drawbacks and implications of closed versus open bid models; and the pros and cons of the various methods that auctioneers capture when displaying updates on bids. I have asked my officials to consider further reform in respect of the regulation of property service providers and the wider recommendations in the report.
Does the Minister accept that we have a serious problem in our housing market? We can look at it in terms of the gap between advertised sale prices and actual selling prices. We have a problem with that massive gulf and it is ordinary people - families and individuals - who are being squeezed on house prices, which are absolutely unaffordable. What is happening in the housing market can be seen on the Crazy House Prices Instagram page. People are highlighting it. This is going on right now. There is case after case of people being gazumped. There are ghost bids with people putting in a bid in with a price, then it says it has been withdrawn, then it says it does not exist and all the time the house prices are going up. The Minister can do something about this. We need action quickly on this, not just another report that sits on a shelf. We need action. Does the Minister accept there is a problem around bidding in the housing market that is adding to house price inflation?
The Government has accepted there are issues. That is why it set up the expert group. The programme for Government committed to a broad package of measures to assist home buyers under the home buyers help package, many of which have already been progressed by the implementation group of the task force on conveyancing and probate, arising from the previous actions under Housing for All.
The ESRI report itself focused on behavioural aspects of the Irish housing transaction system within the current supply and demand context, and with studies showing how aspects of the system influence buyers' and sellers' behaviour. The task force was set up. There is an implementation group. Those measures are being implemented. We are also continuing to review in the Department what is happening in terms of the home buyers' market.
I am very concerned because what we saw from the previous Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government was a commitment to address gazumping, ghost bids and the problems in the market. I am deeply concerned because the Minister is again making commitments to review it but I am not sure about the timeline for delivering changes and action on this. You can read article after article about this. We have examples of estate agents using AI photos to show potential properties and the ads regulator not enforcing. There are massive problems in our housing market that are adding to house price inflation. We cannot just let this be a review of a policy that sits on a shelf. We need to see action and I want the Minister to outline a timeframe for action on this.
I thank the Deputy. As I said, we have had our task force and we have the implementation group. Many measures have already been implemented and the rest of those measures are being implemented at pace. I am happy with the work the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is doing in this area. I am reviewing the new report that has come from the ESRI to see if further measures are needed on top of that and I will make those decisions. Where measures are needed, I will implement them.
Housing Policy
Paul Murphy
Ceist:150. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if plans by local councils to increase rents for council and HAP tenants reflect the commitment in the Delivering Homes, Building Communities plan to review the rents paid by social housing tenants, or if even more rent increases are planned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18049/26]
Across Dublin City Council letters are dropping for council tenants and HAP tenants telling them the people least able to afford to pay are going to see massive rent increases of 30% on average. Dublin city renters are getting organised. I saw there was a big meeting last night, a big meeting the week before and a big meeting the week before that. Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is involved in organising those people. The same is happening in South Dublin County Council in advance of a planned rent rise. The question is whether this is part of national government policy and just the thin end of the wedge that is going to see council and HAP rents rise and rise.
I thank the Deputy for the question. Currently, local authorities charge rent under the Housing Act 1966 and this is known as the differential rents system. It is a critical piece of the State's welfare apparatus that subsidises housing costs and supports households who cannot meet their long-term accommodation needs from their own resources. The making or amending of such rent schemes is generally a matter for the executives of local authorities within the broad principles set out by my Department, including that rent levels should be based on income and reflect tenants’ ability to pay and also that they contain a hardship clause under which tenants can pay a reduced rent for a specified period and under certain circumstances. Local authorities should review their rent schemes regularly to ensure they are equitable and appropriate to the household means. The Government’s priority is to accelerate the delivery of social housing, with a significant funding package to support this ambition. It is therefore increasingly important that social housing supports are targeted appropriately and managed efficiently. Central to this is ensuring that the social housing rents charged remain appropriate to household means and that charging structures protect the most vulnerable households, including those with children. The current system of 32 individual rent schemes has its strengths. However, rents can vary widely and disparate approaches mean social tenants on similar incomes can pay significantly different rents for similar properties merely because of the local authority area they reside in. The new housing plan Delivering Homes, Building Communities commits to reviewing rents paid to local authorities and AHBs with a view to introducing a national framework that provides a consistent and equitable system of rents and protects vulnerable households.
Can the Minister of State tell me whether, in the national framework the Government is going to work towards, rents are going to come down for any council tenants or are they just going to rise? That is the simple question. The Delivering Homes, Building Communities document is extremely worrying because it suggests moving away from a differential rent-based system in which people's rent is based on their income and what they can afford to pay, which is an extremely fair system. Instead the document refers to the Housing Commission recommendation of "Merging social and cost rental housing over time to form a single affordable rental sector, based on the principle of cost recovery". In other words, it will no longer be based on the principle of how much people can afford to pay but how much it costs to build the homes. That would be an extremely retrograde, regressive step. It would be a move in exactly the wrong direction and would result in even bigger rent increases for those who can least afford to pay.
The Deputy asked whether it will result in increased or decreased rents. As I outlined in my initial response there are significant differences in rent schemes from local authority to local authority. Somebody with a given income in one council may be paying more than someone on a similar income in a different local authority area. There is a national framework contained in the housing plan. Options will come forward to the Minister in the second half of this year. Obviously we will look at what the best system and approach is at that point. It is true to say that in some local authority systems, it ranges between 10% and 20% of income and different approaches are taken to secondary earners. We set a broad framework. It is probably appropriate at this point that there be a more streamlined system where local authorities cannot have as broad a range as they have had heretofore.
I am not against a streamlined system in principle but I do not think any council tenants are going to believe the Minister of State that the Government is going to streamline this downwards to the lowest levels. Instead, everyone will hear that it is going to streamline this to the highest possible levels. That will mean even more rent increases for people who simply cannot afford to pay. I am telling the Minister of State that council tenants are getting organised in a very significant way. In Dublin City Council it is going to be a massive campaign. It was only lost by one vote. Unfortunately, the Labour Party and the Green Party voted to increase people's rents. We are building a big campaign to reverse that in the next budget. In South Dublin County Council we are a year ahead of where the city council is and we have every chance of stopping this rent increase coming in. Will the Minister of State explain to me what the idea of merging the cost rental and social housing systems would look like? What does it mean to go for it being based on the principle of cost recovery? If the Government implements that, is it not the end of the differential rents scheme?
I thank the Deputy. In the premise of his follow-up question, he is determining the outcome of this review. He is stating the outcome of it will be that we will go to the highest rent provided by a local-----
Will you promise me you will go lower?
I did not interrupt you, Deputy.
No, I am interrupting you though.
I did not-----
Deputy Murphy, you should not interrupt.
You tell me if you are going to go lower.
Deputy Murphy-----
I am just asking the question.
-----address your remarks through the Chair.
I would ask the Minister of State whether the Government is going to reduce them.
You are out of order. I ask the Minister of State to conclude his answer.
Deputy Murphy had an opportunity to make his comments. I am responding to him. He is determining the outcome of the review. I am saying that a review is under way and that proposals will be brought to the Minister in the second half of this year. There are varying discrepancies between some local authorities. I am not determining what the outcome will be. Some local authorities have a higher percentage and some have a lower one. I am not going to determine what the outcome of the review will be until it has been undertaken.
Question No. 151 taken with Written Answers.