Increase in housing tenancies despite rise in eviction notices and homelessness - Martin
David Raleigh
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said housing tenancies have actually increased, despite concern at a rise of home eviction notices and homelessness in the wake of new rules, introduced on March 1st, forcing landlords to provide six-year leases for tenants.
The number of people in emergency accommodation increased again last month to 17,308, according to the Department of Housing.
Eviction notices rose sharply too, by 41 per cent at the end of 2025 compared to the previous year, revealed data published by the State’s Residential Tenancies Board.
On March 15th last, it emerged that 20 families residing at an apartment block in Limerick City had received notices of termination from their landlord a week prior to the new rental rules coming into force.
Property owners have warned that the rules are forcing landlords to exit the market.
When asked by reporters in Limerick on Friday if the new rules were a wrong move, the Taoiseach replied: “First of all, the number of tenancies have actually increased overall, nationally, across the country.
"There was always churn in terms of tenancies, and the Housing Commission made it absolutely clear that we had to reform the RPZ’s, the rental pressure pressure zones, in particular.
“They had to be reformed, we took advice, expert advice, we have reformed them in two dimensions: One, to give certainty and clarity to the investment landscape; And also then to give added and increased protection to tenants, which they do.
“There is no question, but these rent reforms, with the six-year tenancy in particular, eventually ends no-fault eviction, and in addition to that, then gives a landscape to investors to make sure we can get more apartments and more units built.
“The government has allocated about nine billion euro to housing this year, it’s estimated we need about €20 billion overall. The private sector will have to take up a lot of that as well, to get to that 20 billion figure, and to get 50,000 houses built a year.”
The Taoiseach said the government's measures “are balanced”, and “must be seen in the context of other measures that we have taken”.
Martin said: “We had 36,000 houses built last year, which is the highest in a long, long time. As we are making progress, but given population growth it is not enough yet, and we want to get to that 50,000 mark.
“It is all about supply, and we will spare no effort in doing everything we possibly can, policy wise, investment wise, to make sure that we can get a sufficiency of houses, so that young people in this country can aspire to owning a house that they can afford, or a house that they can rent."
