At the March 2020 meeting of Dublin City Council Mary proposed an Emergency Motion calling on the incoming government to urgently introduce a residential rent freeze in Dublin City.

As a City Councilor Mary works every day to help people avoid becoming homeless and to try to secure adequate housing in Dublin Central. 

Dublin is currently the most expensive city in Europe to rent a home.  Average rents in Dublin City are in excess of €2,000.  Increasing residential rents continue to drive people into homelessness – in Dublin City there are more than 4,000 men, women and children homeless. 

Since 2014 homelessness in Dublin City has been increasingly caused by private rental tenants being unable to pay ever increasing rents and yet rental costs continue to spiral in Dublin City.

In December 2019 Sinn Féin’s Rent Freeze Bill passed 2nd stage in the Dáil but was not enacted into law by government. 

Talks to form a new government are on-going, may take some time and will not result in any one party ruling alone.  In the meantime, renters in Dublin City are struggling with ever increasing rents and more recently reduced earnings due to the corona virus.   

Mary’s motion, supported by all Fianna Fáil Dublin City Councilors, calls for the parties who form the next Government, to urgently introduce a rent freeze for private renters in Dublin City.

The emergency motion will be debated at a meeting of Dublin City Council on Tuesday March 10, 2020 in Dublin City Hall. You can follow the meeting live via webcast HERE.