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Updated at 2.30pm
TheJournal Politics / Twitter
TheJournal Politics / Twitter / Twitter
AREAS WITH RISING rents in Dublin and Cork are to be targeted in the government’s new rental strategy, which has been launched this afternoon by Housing Minister Simon Coveney.
‘Rent pressure zones’, recognising regions where there is sustained tension in the rental market, will be identified by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) as part of the plan.
This afternoon’s statement from Coveney’s department said the pressure zones would be introduced with immediate effect in Dublin city and county and in Cork city.
What happens in pressure zones?
The measures will cap rent increases in the designated zones to 4% per year over a three year period.
According to the Department:
“These are areas where annual rent increases have been at 7% or more in four of the last six quarters and where the rent levels are already above the national average.”
The measures are being brought in straight away in the four council areas in Dublin, and in Cork city. From this afternoon’s announcement:
Rent pressure zones will be designated for a maximum 3 years, by which time new supply will have come on stream and pressures will have eased somewhat in these areas.
Despite calls from parties such as Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats, the new rental strategy does not contain a system of national rent control.
Speaking this afternoon, Coveney said he believed a national rent cap would have “devastating consequences in terms of supply” and that he didn’t think it would work.
The government was “putting a bridle on a horse that has been almost out of control for the last two years” in terms of rental increases, he insisted.
The Minister said he had spoken to his counterpart in Fianna Fáil, Barry Cowen, and hoped to get the plan passed by the end of the year.
The new plan will also strengthen of the role and powers of the Residential Tenancies Board – the agency set up in 2004 to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants.
The measures include boosted dispute resolution timeframes (time for appeals will be cut from 21 to ten days and one person tribunals will be held in some cases – allowing for more tribunals to take place). The law in the area would also be simplified, according to the plan announced this afternoon.
Today’s measures follow changes introduced last year by then-housing minister Alan Kelly, which included longer notice periods for any rent increases and a two-year limit on how often rents could be reviewed.
Since then, rents have continued to climb. Over the past 12 months, prices have gone up 8.6% nationally, according to the latest figures from the RTB.
Vulture funds
Taking questions from reporters on the issue of homes that have been brought by so-called vulture funds, he said that when ten or more houses are sold together, tenants should have tenancies uninterrupted.
A measure to allow for that change is included in legislation going through the Oireachtas at the moment, and the issue was also covered in today’s plan, Coveney said.
Residents of Cruise Park in Tyrrelstown in West Dublin had been holding a separate event near the Dáil this morning to highlight their cause.
Reduced incentives
Coveney’s plans, which were formally announced at a press conference at Government Buildings this afternoon, have already been criticised as likely to reduce supply in critical areas.
In a briefing note this morning, Goodbody analysts Colm Lauder and Eamonn Hughes said previous rent controls meant there hadn’t been price increases at many properties for a “significant period of time, while market rents have appreciated considerably”.
“As a result, large swathes of the residential lettings market would be technically under-rented, yet the landlord unable to ‘mark-to-market’,” they said.
We see this as damaging to professional landlords operating in the Irish market and will provide reduced incentives to growing lettable stock.
There was also criticism from property owners’ association the IPOA, which described the measures as an attempt to re-introduce rent control.
“Short term interference causes long term difficulties undermining the confidence of prospective investors,” Chairman of the group Stephen Faughnan said in a statement.
“The State has caused the rental crisis and continual interference is making it worse,” he added.
Sinn Féin’s Eoin O Broin, meanwhile, said the simple fact was that rents are too high and that the Minister was allowing landlords to continue to increase rents.
Renters simply don’t have the money. I see no benefit in what he’s announced today for renters.
Today’s announcement was the latest installment of the Rebuilding Ireland plan, launched back in July to tackle the spiralling housing and homelessness crisis.
Reporting by Daragh Brophy, Christina Finn and Peter Bodkin.
TheJournal.ie will be hosting a special Facebook Live interview with the Minister for Housing Simon Coveney in TheJournal.ie HQ in Dublin on Thursday evening.
We want YOUR questions for the minister on the new rental strategy.
Is your rent going through the roof? What questions or concerns do you have? What will impact you? Is there anything missing?
Send your questions to christinafinn@thejournal.ie.
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The Greatest song writer of our time
@RIP: Paul Simon is not bad either.
@RIP: Yep, he is definitely up there alongside the late, great, Kris Kristofferson.
@RIP: rough to choose between him, Leonard Cohen & of course Shane McGowan…for sheer body of work Bob would be top I guess.
@damien leen: what about Tom Waits? The greatest storyteller of them all.
@Noddy Mooney: yup. A genius, but all of the above are amazing in their own right.
Bob is so prolific though.
An amazing wordsmith.
@RIP: The man had talent no doubt but there’s a tonne of great songwriters. I always wonder why people are so definitive about ‘ the best’ or ‘the greatest’. It’s pretty subjective stuff. There’s been a hell of a lot amazing songs and albums written since his peak.
He deserves the plaudits for some of his work but you feel there’s a real bias at times due to several factors including the era he’s from on top of the fact that’s it’s very familiar and accessible. A lot of it is bare bones stuff like guitar and voice with maybe a Hammond or whatever thrown in. Nothing wrong with this of course but he’s one of many talented songwriters. I don’t buy into this pyramid with him unquestionably at the very top,
@SerotoninWars: It was those lower on the pyramid (Van Morrison, Cohen, Young, Springsteen, Hendrix, Patti Smith, Beatles, etc., etc.) who tended to place him at the very top, and they knew what they were talking about. Leonard Cohen said that Dylan’s Nobel Prize was ‘like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain’.
Everything is questionable, of course, but Dylan changed everything.
@Brendan O’Brien: Seismic figure, mo question. I know how widely revered he is. I’m not questioning the quality of some of his music either. I still think this is a highly subjective area. A lot will be down to how you define ‘best’ and ‘greatest’. There’s a lot of components that make a great song. Lyrics, music, intonation, voice, relatability, enlightening aspects.. and many more. The overall effect and impact is arguably the most important. That’s very hard to quantify. He was a talented songwriter, no doubt. I just have a bit of an aversion to these definitive takes on areas like music and art that have more grey areas than definitive bottom lines.
@SerotoninWars: You’re right about that, of course: it’s highly subjective, and largely about how certain music affected us at important times in our lives.
For me, hearing a few Dylan albums (Before the Flood, Desire, New Morning) in my mid-teens was seismic indeed.
@Brendan O’Brien: Absolutely. As much as we still get a huge effect from music as we age, it’s hard to escape the suspicion that when we’re young – that mix of naivety, passion, energy and everything firing at 100% – creates an unrepeatable impact.
I have musical access I could only dream of as a teenager but if I’m being brutally honest I’m not sure many albums have the same overwhelming impact now as when I had a tiny percentage of what I have now. That level of investment and absorption at an age when your passion is running so high, is hard to repeat or recreate.
@damien leen:
Bob Dylan sold the rights to his 600 songs. Neil Young sold 50% of 1200 songs.
Shane McGowan, brilliant as he was only wrote about 20 songs.
I’d give the volume of output award to Neil Young
@RIP: please… Lennon and Roger Waters outclassed him regularly nevermind Tom Waits and Elvis Costello
@Brendan O’Brien: we can’t dismiss the abundance of talented artists of the last 20 years. They must be at Least on par with those legends mentioned.
@Jack: tongue in cheek of course
I love Bob and his music. His songs have been an integral part of my life growing up and now. Nobody comes close to him as a songwriter.
@Adrian Versey: Same here.
Just horrible live. Worst gig ever
@Dave c: not always apparently, but I saw him at the infamous gid at the Point when he stood behind a keyboard for the duration, you couldn’t even pick him out onstage, never said hello or goodbye. Terrible gig.
@Dave c: he’s an old man Dave. His voice used to set him apart in a more positive way
@Dave c: I love Bob but I have to agree, he is terrible live. I appreciate that’s my experience and some will disagree.
@Adrian Versey: Had similar experience with Neil Young at the point, more charisma in a sponge
@Dave c: He was fantastic live at some points in his career, especially the mid-sixties and mid-seventies.
@Adrian Versey: yes. I’m a big fan and have seen him live several times. He’s not great live but I enjoyed just being there!
@Dermot Blaine: 2003? was at that gig and was truly awful. Seen Bowie a week later at the same venue and was one of the best gigs I was ever at. Chalk and Cheese.
@Kevin Dillon: think so, but I’m not 100% sure on the date
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.
Best songwriter ,he is a legend.
“There must be some way out of here…”
@Daniel Skelton: “It’s not a wonder to me that he recorded my songs but rather that he recorded so few of them because they were all his.”
…..it’s really groovy. I’d like to bore you for about six or seven minutes to do a little thing. Excuse me for a minute and let me play my guitar…….
Right now, I want to do a thing by Bob Dylan. That’s his grandma over there…..
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…..
Don’t listen to much of his stuff, but Blood on the Tracks is one of my favourite albums.
The times they are a-changin’
@Dermot: he certainly had a tendency to be an expert in the obvious
Grew up on a diet of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Desire and Slow Train Coming (in descending order of preference). Got into his earlier stuff later in life. None of the 3 choices in the poll really suit me!
@Kevin Kerr: It sounds like you used to be cool Kevin, what happened??
@Kevin Kerr: Same! I don’t adore him in an obsessive fan kind of way. The songs I love aren’t the hits. And I definitely don’t totally dislike him! I respect and enjoy the great songs he wrote but I find the widespread assumption and received wisdom that he is the best to ever do it a bit odd and unconvincing.
@SerotoninWars: speaking of iconic protest/folk artists – I’ve just seen a post/photograph on FB of Joan Baez in Sandycove yesterday. She went there for a dip, apparently, and she looks amazing!
@Kevin Kerr: I found the pics! Amazing! Another legend! Great to see her looking so well. What an honour for the Irish sea haha!
Music, yes. Voice, no.
Slow Train Coming – Excellent
@Ciaran Enright: pardon the pun, but God no! Awful stuff.
Not a big fan but he has some great tunes, gotta serve somebody, and Mississippi are two getting played a lot recently.
When you ain’t got nothin’, you’ve got nothin’ to lose.
One of the greatest songwriters of all time. His stamp is all over music to this day. An absolute living legend, in my opinion.
“The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind”
Maybe a great songwriter but can’t sing. He is the worst singer I’ve ever come across, he’s absolutely rubbish. I wouldn’t go and see him even if I were paid to.
@Andrew Speers: The fact that you don’t like his voice doesn’t mean that he can’s sing. His voice is (or was) the perfect instrument for putting his songs across, therefore he’s a great singer. Without that voice he would never have achieved the success he did.
Some amazing songs
@Trump24: Odd! Trump and his entire worldview and behaviour is exactly the kind of thing Dylan was against and sang about in his songs. Prejudice, bigotry, corruption, narcissism, propaganda, dishonesty…have you actually listened to the lyrics in any of his songs?!
Give me Joni Mitchell over Bob any day :)
@Rachel Mountney: A legend in her own right.
Met him, and he was extremely rude.tg he wasn’t my hero.never liked his whining music.
@Brian Murphy: yea. I’m sure he was delighted to meet you too. lol.
Get over yourself Brian.
@Fergus O’Donnell: I was stating a fact, go troll somewhere else.
You’d never think to look at him that he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin on desolation row!
The answer is blowing in the wind.
Great songwriter. Unfortunately his fame has overtaken his ability these days.
I did but,The Times They Are A-Changin
Dusty old man music. Better off listening to Lil Yachty.
The noble prize is surely more remarkable than the 10 grammies
Even the president of the united states sometimes has to stand naked.
A great singer/songwriter. But atrocious live. I was at the Nowlan Park gig in Kilkenny years ago, and he was dire until he came out to do an encore. Then he was brilliant for about 4 songs.
People also forget he was in the Traveling Wilburys with Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. The first supergroup.
have your say