TAOISEACH Micheál Martin, speaking in Limerick this past week, said that housing tenancies have increased despite concern at a rise in eviction notices and homelessness in the wake of new rules, introduced by Government on March 1, forcing landlords to provide six-year leases for tenants.
The numbers of people in emergency accommodation nationally 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 in data published by the State’s Residential Tenancies Board.
On March 15, it emerged that 20 families residing at an apartment block in Limerick City received notices of termination from their landlord a week prior to the new rental rules coming into force.
Property owners warned the new rules are forcing landlords to exit the market.
When asked by reporters in Limerick 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 RPZs, the rental pressure pressure zones, in particular.”
“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 Taoiseach said the Government has allocated “about nine billion euro to housing this year, it’s estimated we need about 20 billion euro 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”.
Mr 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.”