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Sam Boal via RollingNews.ie

19 new rent pressure zones come into effect as national rent average increases yet again

Pressure zones are designated areas where rents cannot be increased by more than 4% per annum.

THE NATIONAL AVERAGE rent has increased yet again by 8.3% as 19 new areas were designated as rent pressure zones.

The latest report from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB)’s rent index showed that the national standardised average rent is €1,169 per month. This is an 8.3% increase (€90) annually and 2.1% quarter-on-quarter increase.

While growth remains high in Dublin with the average rent of €1,662 per month, an increase of 8.5% (€70) on the previous year, rental inflation has been highest in areas outside the Greater Dublin Area with an increase of 9.6% year on year.

In a bid to make rent affordable in a number of areas, 19 new rent pressure zones were announced today.

These are designated areas where rents cannot be increased by more than 4% per annum. 

The new areas are:

  • Meath: Kells, Trim
  • Louth: Ardee, Dundalk South, Dundalk – Carlingford
  • Wicklow: Arklow
  • Galway: Athenry/Oranmore, Gort/Kinvara
  • Wexford: Gorey
  • Cork: Midleton, Fermoy
  • Laois: Portlaoise, Graiguecullen/Portarlington
  • Waterford: Waterford City East, Waterford City South
  • Westmeath: Athlone
  • Limerick: Limerick City West, Limerick City North
  • Kilkenny

Commenting on the latest Rent Index results, Rosalind Carroll, Director of the Residential Tenancies Board said:

“The RTB Rent Index is an important tool in helping understand and inform the rental sector.  It is clear that rising rents continue to put pressure on the market. There are a number of complex reasons behind this that policy makers will need to continue to monitor and consider.”

Carroll added: “It is really important that landlords and tenants go to www.rtb.ie where they can check if their rental home is in a Rent Pressure Zone and what rent can be charged.”

The report found that Dublin’s rental market continues to be the largest in the country, accounting for nearly two-in-five new tenancies that were registered with the RTB. The standardised average rent in the capital stood at €1,662 up from €1,532. This is an 8.5% increase annually.

Elsewhere in the country, the second-highest standardised average rents in Q1 2019 were in Cork City at €1,158 per month. However it experienced its slowest growth slowest out of the cities at 7.1%.

Galway City average rents stood at €1,093, with Waterford having the fastest growth rate of 13.7% annually – with a standard average rent of €826.

The new zones were raised in Leaders’ Questions today by Labour Leader Brendan Howlin, who said the rollout of more RPZs is “clearly unsustainable”. 

He said the 4% increase cap is essentially giving landlords a “green light” to hike up rents, adding that affordability should be the benchmark. 

“We can see thousands of people being pushed out of the rental sector and pushed into homelessness,” said Howlin, who called on the government to increase wages so that people can meet the cost of rising rents. 

He also called on the government to modify the RPZ regulations, by setting allowable rent increases by landlords at 1% every three years, rather than the current 4% every two years.

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    Mute Peter B
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:34 PM

    Archdiocese and children are two words that should not be in the same sentence.

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    Mute Ian Downes
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:40 PM

    @Peter B: I was just going to comment that exact sentence. It’s incredible that the catholic church would be let anywhere near children, or women, or anyone at this stage.

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Apr 29th 2021, 6:02 AM

    @Ian Downes: and yet people think it’s fine for them to run 90% of our schools.

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    Mute Derek Moran
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:42 PM

    Honestly who would ever leave a child alone with a priest these days?

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:54 PM

    @Derek Moran: The vast, vast majority of priests were, and are, decent people. But, hell, a good generalisation makes a good soundbite.

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    Mute Mango mango
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:57 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: do you have children? And would you?

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    Mute Lorcan OReilly
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:02 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: really so the majority of them were speaking out against abuse and helping bring offenders to justice?

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Apr 29th 2021, 6:06 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: it doesn’t matter if the vast majority of them are decent.

    The organisation is rotten to the core.

    It was the Vatican who wrote the rules to move abusing priests to other parishes, it was the Vatican that wrote the rules about silencing victims, it is the Vatican that refuses to this day to release countless records to governments and the United nations.

    It was the Vatican who sent people over to a commission in Ireland and told victims they were lieing and only in it for the money.

    Imagine if the GAA did all this. What same person who deal with the GAA as a whole afterwards?

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    Mute Derek Moran
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    Apr 29th 2021, 7:32 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: I used to look after the IT for a bunch of them. I’ve seen their viewing history. Let’s just say it doesn’t correspond with their teachings.

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:50 PM

    Church can’t be bothered to compensate abuse victims, spending money on child protection is a low priority.

    They have the money, it’s just tied up in assets, mainly land which they won’t sell.

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    Mute Mango mango
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:02 PM

    @Barry Somers: lay management companies have the money, they have it tied up on purpose. It really shows how much they care.

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    Mute Jukebox Jim
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:45 PM

    Neighbourhood cat ‘committed to protecting mice’ despite slaughtering mice at every available opportunity…

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    Mute Bunny Johnson
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    Apr 29th 2021, 11:19 AM

    @Jukebox Jim: superb analogy!

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    Mute Robert Thomas
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:28 PM

    “and monitors the activities of priests known to have abused children in the past in order to minimise the chance of them doing so again.”

    I know a better way to make sure it never happens again.

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    Mute Amanda Ui Fhaircheallaigh
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    Apr 28th 2021, 9:40 PM

    Surely, the archdiocese is half as committed as protecting children

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:16 PM

    @Amanda Ui Fhaircheallaigh: Wonder did ArchBishop take a pay cut.

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    Mute The only INFP in Ireland
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    Apr 28th 2021, 10:49 PM

    ‘moniters the activities of priests known to have abused children in the past in order to minimise the chance of them doing so again’ Is this a joke?!

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    Mute Paul Whitehead
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    Apr 29th 2021, 8:23 AM

    This staff cut certainly sends out the wrong message, though I expect the majority of comments here would be exactly the same if they had doubled the number of staff working in child protection.

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    Mute alan
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    Apr 29th 2021, 12:40 PM

    @Paul Whitehead: Using the analogy above, two cats looking after the mice isnt exactly better than one

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