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LABOUR HAS THIS evening admitted that the package of measures to address the housing crisis is unlikely to include the form of rent certainty first proposed by Alan Kelly.
A spokesperson for the Tánaiste Joan Burton said this evening that the proposal to link rent increases with the level of inflation for a three-year period is “unlikely to materialise”.
The confirmation will come as a huge blow to the Environment Minister who has championed the proposal since he announced it at the Labour conference in February.
Earlier today in the Dáil, Kelly was compared to controversial Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho for referring to himself in the third person at a recent press event.
During Leaders’ Questions, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said of Kelly:
Worryingly in response – the Jose Mourinho-type response – he goes into the third person and he attacks the ‘cowards’, the ‘anonymous cowards’, that are leaking against him.
Kelly’s rent certainty plan would have involved index-linking rents which means they would only increase in line with the annual increases in household items – known as the consumer price index.
The Labour deputy leader had wanted to bring in the measure for a period of three years as a temporary solution to soaring rental prices, particularly in Dublin, as more houses were built.
Speaking at the Labour conference in February, Kelly said:
What we’re looking at is a process whereby people can have some certainty as regards rent into the future while [housing] supply is being dealt with.
Sources close to the minister later briefed that the plans would involve landlords not being able to increase rent beyond the rise in the consumer price index.
Increases would only be allowed in circumstances where improvements had been carried out on the property.
However Kelly’s proposal met with fierce opposition from Fine Gael and in particular Finance Minister Micheal Noonan. The concerns of the senior coalition partner centred on the potentially negative impact of undue government interference in the housing market.
Yesterday, Noonan and Kelly held what were later described as “constructive and detailed” discussions on measures to tackle the housing crisis.
Measures will include requiring landlords to give 90 days notice of any rental increase, as opposed to the current 30 days. There would also be longer eviction notices and a requirement on landlords to provide justification for rent increases.
The Private Residential Tenancies Board is also set to be given enhanced powers to deal with tenant/landlord disputes.
The government is set to finalise proposals in the coming days before an announcement next week. However the matter was not raised at cabinet today.
On the rent certainty proposal, a senior government source said this evening:
That’s unlikely to happen at this stage… There will be other measures and we’re absolutely sure that the package will address both supply and rental issues.
A spokesperson for the Tánaiste insisted this evening that any measures that are announced would be a priority for the government to implement before the election next year.
“Alan Kelly has been very, very clear on this for a long time. The scale of the issue means it has to be addressed as an emergency,” they insisted.
A spokesperson for Kelly said this evening that all measures remain under discussion and that the final package would have to be “commensurate to the size of the problem”.
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A star in the making. Good on you Sarah
Well done
Just persevere. Do your best and be proud!
Great run from Andrew Coscoran also
6th in the 3000m
there’s no medal for sixth
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: You know your stuff.
@john kenny: do you wear a little pair of panties?
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: you got gold, for being the best clown
Hope she’s not reading this, she done her best today was not her day, she was placed and proud.
@Phillip Smyth: I doubt she gives a s*** what the bitter little reprobates have to say.
She did herself and her country proud which is more than these saddos will ever achieve.
@Fergus O’Donnell: dead right Fergus do know if she receiving
@Phillip Smyth: do you know if she’s receiving plaudits for her finishing she seems to be getting raw deals this is not right
@Phillip Smyth: She finished sixth of 12 in a world final. First European home. Exactly as anyone who knows the sport would have predicted.
can’t comment on genocide in gaza, Israel’s a disgrace
@Joe Doyle: release the Hamas held hostages and remove the reason for Israel being in Gaza
@Joe Doyle: The excellent UK radio station LBC constantly covers almost daily what’s happening in the Middle East and allows its listeners to voice their opinions on the matter unlike here in Ireland, public debate on anything is blatantly and deliberately ignored by our media, free speech in the Irish version of democracy I’m afraid is non existent, our last general election is a perfect example of that where the general public were completely ignored by our pathetic media both radio and Television and not facilitated in any debate whatsoever to voice their opinions.
@James Gorman: Hamas was created by Israel and no one else, ever hear of the expression James “Divide And Conquer”?, now do yourself a favour and investigate how Hamas was created and financed but first take off the blinkers, perhaps you may also check out “The Bibi Files Documentary” that has exposed the horrible individual and his family that are in power in Israel, It will also give an insight into some of the extreme far fight racists in Netanyahu’s government.
Sixth lol
@Mr. Biggins: u couldn’t run a bath
@Mr. Biggins: Imagine how meaningless your life must be to spend your time on here trolling. What a los*r.
It’s a pity that she didn’t have the kick on power in the final three laps. It’s a learning curve and she did Ireland proud.
Sarah is tough as nails
have your say