It\u2019s never been clearer that the Government is writing housing policy to appease corporate landlords and investor funds, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis morning\u2019s statement from IRES, the State\u2019s largest corporate landlord, makes for sickening reading. The REIT\u2019s brazen profiteering against the backdrop of over 17,000 people in homelessness, including almost 6,000 children, shows that housing is beyond broken in Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIRES claims that the Government\u2019s disastrous rental law changes have had \u2018a positive impact\u2019 on the housing market, predicting that this will boost its business – it\u2019s only corporate landlords and vulture funds who are benefiting from the changes, not ordinary people.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the bottom lines of IRES shareholders, March 1st\u2019s rental changes have rendered the rental market impenetrable for tens of thousands of people in housing precarity. Last week, it was reported that rents have surged at the highest rate in 25 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe average rent for a two-bed apartment is \u20ac2,600 in Dublin, nearly \u20ac2,300 in Galway, almost \u20ac2,200 in Limerick and more than \u20ac2,100 in Cork. Who can afford these prices?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile prices skyrocket, evictions have reached levels not seen since the famine. The rise in notices to quit are a direct result of the Government\u2019s rental law changes, which are already proving catastrophic.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvictions in the final quarter of 2025 were up 41% on the same period the year before, while over 20,000 notices to quit were issued last year alone. Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael have incentivised landlords across Ireland to evict their tenants, encouraging them to raise their rents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you speak to young renters across the country, as I do, they will tell you that almost everyone they know who rents is in the process of being evicted, and those few who aren\u2019t are worriedly checking their post every day. This is no way to live, and is why we\u2019re seeing so many of our young people leave Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile IRES is trumpeting these changes, it is refusing to engage with its own tenants who are in rent shares but have been told that they can\u2019t replace a tenant who leaves, leaving the remaining tenants to either pay the full rent for the apartment, enter a new contract at market-adjusted rent, or leave the tenancy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe refusal of tenancy swaps is resulting in economic evictions, yet IRES has refused to come in front of the Oireachtas Housing Committee. The largest landlord in the state has obligations under rental regulations and must be held accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way we can stall the disastrous effects of these rental laws is for the Government to introduce a three-year ban on no-fault evictions, and a ban on rent increases, before prices go any higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow, the homelessness figures for the month of April will be released. Despite what IRES might say, we cannot go on like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
May 28th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s never been clearer that the Government is writing housing policy to appease corporate landlords and investor funds, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne said: \u201cThis morning\u2019s statement from IRES, the State\u2019s largest corporate landlord, makes for sickening reading. The REIT\u2019s brazen profiteering against the backdrop of over 17,000 people in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[663,10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homelessness","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n