Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
MOST PEOPLE TRY to hide away from the housing crisis. Who would want to let anyone know that they have moved back in with their parents as an adult or that they have had to move their children into emergency accommodation?
But log into Facebook any day of the week and the housing crisis is likely to start appearing. It might be in the Renters in Dublin groups, where people post looking for a room, their tone becoming increasingly desperate as it becomes obvious they are willing to take anywhere – no matter the conditions.
Or it could be in the indignant posts shared from Daft.ie of advertisements offering to share a bedroom with three strangers for the sweet deal of €350 per month, living under the stairs, or on a bed that has to be folded away to get to the kitchen.
The problems faced by tenants
According to Census 2011, 18.5% of households in Ireland are now tenants in the private rented sector. Recent research published by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) in its report on The Future of the Private Rented Sector shows that 52% of tenants plan to stay in the sector. Even the current Government’s Housing Policy Statement 2011 recognises the role the private rented sector will continue to play.
All Mod Cons? is a photo exhibition brought together by We’re Not Leaving, illustrating some of the problems faced by tenants: illegal deposit retention; homes not meeting minimum standards; lack of security of tenure; and rent increases.
Understanding the problems of the private rented sector is a vital first step but it is also important to ask what can be done for the private rented sector. Our research set out to answer that question and we discovered that plenty can be done.
One possibility is the introduction of rent control.
‘Rent controls’ v ‘rent freezes’
Public debate on regulation has been somewhat lacking, with many media outlets seeming eager to reproduce uncritically the PRTB report conclusions that rent controls wouldn’t work in Ireland. Some commentators and journalists who dismiss rent controls as being counter-productive are actually talking about rent freezes, when rent is not allowed to increase at all. Rent freezes were made famous by their complicated effects on New York City. However, it is disingenuous to discuss rent freezes as rent controls when no one is suggesting a rent freeze.
The PRTB’s report, Rent Stability in the Private Rented Sector, concluded that rent controls would not work in Ireland. But when the report is interrogated even a small amount it becomes clear that the PRTB tested for rent controls in the worst possible scenario; they worked on the assumption of the introduction of rent control with nothing being done to increase supply yet even the most unconnected of governments would not do that. The PRTB also asserted that rent would increase once the market was deregulated again. An obvious solution to that is just not to deregulate.
Critics of rent control rightly point out that when rent is controlled within tenancies, rent is often ‘frontloaded’ and new tenants lose out to sitting tenants. This is why we suggest rent control between as well as within tenancies.
A more stable private rented market
We’re Not Leaving is suggesting something different to the situations the PRTB investigated. ‘Second Generation’ rent controls have been tried and tested around the world from Belgium to Ontario. Ireland could follow the successful model used in Germany, where rent is capped at 15% over three years. This country could also take into account models where the initial rent of a new lease is regulated. In the Netherlands, for example, initial rents are based on a points system, with points gained for square meters, area, local amenities, etc.
Rent control can lead to a more stable private rented market. It’s not just tenants that benefit. Advantages for landlords include the security of income that comes from having rent control, and lower transaction costs because tenants stay longer and have more security of tenure when not faced with economic evictions.
Rent control alone cannot solve the problem. It must be introduced alongside the long-promised deposit protection scheme, increased security of tenure, the enforcement of minimum standards, and a response to the issue of supply by the State. With the PRTB’s finding that 29% of landlords want to get out of the sector as soon as possible, it is obvious that we cannot continue to rely on private landlords to solve the lack of supply. The necessity of State intervention is made even more clear in the PRTB’s finding that 32% of households in the private rented sector are in receipt of rent supplement. The Government must look to all possible mechanisms, including social housing and housing associations.
We cannot continue to watch the private rental sector spiral out of control, and out of reach for far too many people, creating havoc in communities and the economy. It is time for a real, informed and un-prejudiced public debate on regulating the private rental sector.
Aideen Elliott received a Master in Anthropology of Development from SOAS, University of London in 2013. Áine Mannion read for a Master of Studies in Global and Imperial History in 2013. Both are organisers with the We’re Not Leaving campaign, which can be followed on Twitter using @WNLireland.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Yes, if it’s popular, I wouldn’t use it.
@Thunder Snowman: exactly this! I looked at the top 10 list when my kids were born, and ruled them out!
Notions!
@Thunder Snowman: things are popular for a reason,
@Thunder Snowman: the problem in Ireland with names is that masses of people have the same surnames. Eg hickey.. Kelly.. Murphy etc so by giving out popular names like John.. Jack. Mary
It makes it near impossible to trace old friends or contacts.. As. There’s billions of john murphys. Sean Brennan.. Parents are loath to be more creative. Such as elvis.. Johan.. Or non saints names..
@NotMyIreland: now that would be a good original name :)
The more popular the name the less likely I’d pick it. Poor child would end up with loads others in the school having the same name and end up being called by their surname instead of their given name.
Yes, exactly. Also at work. I remember two colleagues having the same first, last and middle name and our manager asking them to pick a way to tell them apart for paging and payroll purposes. It’s awkward enough. In the 80s I got cheques made out to various versions, Fitzpatrick, Fitzsimon, you name it, and had to have them reissued. The more unusual the name, the better.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I was the same as this! Ended up calling us by our first name and then the county we were from as our second name!
@Johnny B: Exactly. I was born in 1954, The ‘Marian year’ .. in Tipperary. Practically every girl in my class was called Marian Ryan ha. Thank goodness for my late mother’s independent thinking!
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I worked in sales at a company once where there were four Mark,s. When the fourth one came on board he was asked to answer the phone as John. Naturally what followed was hilarious as the poor lad had to adjust to not using a name he’d used all his life.
@Johnny B: Unusual names sentence your child to a lifetime of being asked to spell or repeat their name. I am variously called Colin, Donal, Colm, Connell etc and my name is not that exotic.
Just name your child what you want and stop jumping on the bandwagon. My wife and I are quite happy with our newborn Jorge, pronounced (Horhay)
@Ricky: Lovely name, but if you have to spell a name, and then tell people how to pronounce it, it’s a bit awkward. I suspect he’ll end up being called George by everyone else.
No way I’d let the popularity of a kids name effect my choice. Just ask my son, Adolf.
A lot of people don’t seem to care as they are still naming their kids Jack and there must be about 5 of those in every classroom now.
@Fandandi: it’s impossible to trace old friends in Ireland because of all the Jack’s. John’s.. Sean’s. Murphys.. Hickeys etc. Its like tracing win wing woos in China.
Yes I don’t want my kids to have basic names like Jack but nothing too over the top like Dymphna either.
@rice water: Dymphna is hardly over the top. I wonder were there any Assumpthas born this year or any of the names that were common when John Paul II was visiting
Sure every Tom Dick and Harry is called Jack now !
I’d never pick a name for popularity’s sake. I would give my child a name that has meaning
I wanted to call my daughter Emma but was nervous that she would be one of 10 or so girls called Emma in her school. For a while I considered Éabha instead purely because it was less popular. Anyway, I called her Emma and she ended up being the only Emma in the entire school. There was another Éabha in her class though. Just go with the name you like, your child will have it for life.
I’d always be inclined towards fairly plain names. I just could never imagine Nevaeh-Lily – Rose being taken very seriously as a presidential candidate, for example
Our twins boy+girl were born in 2014.stayed away from the popular names and tried to pick something totally different and in hunter and raven I think we succeeded.
@Tony Hanratty: good luck getting jobs lads
@Tony Hanratty: I think they will be changing them when they hit 18.
@Tony Hanratty: Fan of the 90′s show Gladiators by any chance?
I was weirdly pleased when my boy babys name( born in 2019 ) wasnt in the top 100..no other Harrisons in his class !!!
@Lisa Quinn: there are 2 in my sons creche. Like the name though, almost went for it myself. Dexter’s son was Harrison
@Lisa Quinn: there’s a good reason for that
@Wheresmyjumper: ask me tits
@Wheresmyjumper: also youre slaggin a newborn ye dick
@jzT: ha no way!!! 2!! That shut me up!! Its after George Harrison!
I’m teaching 13 years and have one Emily in my class, 11 years ago. Two Jacks in 13 years. Think we have one Jack and one Emily in the school now in a school population of over 400 children
@Mary Josephine: it’s because there’s a bigger variety of names people are choosing from. Even though jack and Emily are the most popular, it’s still less likely they’ll be used than Catherines or Johns were 30 years ago.
My husband’s name is Kim, he’d have much preferred to be called Jack! Think carefully folks.
I went with what was popular in 1969 lol my daughter born last Jan was called Mary-Anne after my godmother and my granny ❤️
Is there a difference between popular and common?
@Marg FitzGerald: Yes, rain is common in Ireland, but not popular.
I really don’t get if for example Emily is number one for 9 years how you’d add onto that list and have your kid forevermore Emily H. or Emily M. Or whatever in a class full of Emilys! But I’m obviously in the minority! I say this as someone who had 4 or 5 of same name in my class all my life and hated it.
@Sinead Mooney: Pick a name you like, nevermind whether it is no.1 or no.99 on the list. Picking a name based on the popularity is silly, yes there may end up been three or four in their class at school, but what does that matter! School is for a few years, a name is for life!
Yeh, I wouldn’t use a popular name. Maybe Virginia for a girl
@The only INFP in Ireland: your daughter will sue you.
Nope, I’m happy with mine.
I haven’t heard of anyone copying my kids snot and puke name,I wonder why
have your say