Kildare North TD slates Residential Tenancies Bill in Dáil

A Sinn Féin TD for Kildare North has slated a Bill which she says will increase rents even further for renters across Kildare from March 1 this year.

Deputy Réada Cronin was speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, February 6 last when 'Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Second Stage' came before the House.

Lambasting the Bill as “one of the most bizarre Bills I have seen come before the House”, Deputy Cronin said it came at a time of cost-of-living crisis, when people were already struggling to pay rent.

Families, the Deputy said, are “pinned to their collar” by the highest electricity, energy, and rents in Europe, yet what the Government proposes is to hike rents up further.

Deputy Cronin suggested the Bill could only be seen for “what it is”, “a love letter to the big institutional investors with which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in bed for many a year.”

The Bill, she said, would allow vulture funds and big landlords to hike up the rents of “60,000 people a year.”

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“My constituency of Kildare North has some of the highest rents in the country”, Deputy Cronin said.

“The demand for housing, including rental properties, has increased so much because when rents spiral out of control in Dublin, people exchange cheaper rents for longer commuting times. Tenants in County Kildare are paying an average of €1,500 a month. A person would be lucky to get a four-bedroom property in north Kildare for less than €3,000.

“Rents will increase by 20% on 1 March, which is €300 a month on the average rent price in Kildare. This is the Government's solution to the biggest rental crisis we have faced as a State. Renters are being made to pay to line the pockets of big landlords.”

Deputy Cronin said that any legislation that seriously sought to address the regulation of the private rental sector would focus on cutting and freezing rents, not allowing them to rise even further.

The Bill will not protect renters, she said, rather “it will push them further to the brink.”

“The average length of a private rental tenancy is three and a half years, according to the RTB. Of all tenancies registered in 2025, 25% were first-time tenancies”, she said.

“If this trend continues, within four to six years the vast majority of private renters will be caught by the market reset rule and big landlords and private investors will be laughing all the way to the bank.

“Again, the question I have to ask the Minister is "Cui bono?". What is the logic behind such daft legislation? How can he justify these measures at a time when so many people across the board are experiencing hardship? We need rent freezes, not rent increases.”