‘Like a dagger through the heart of working class communities’

South Dublin County Council has introduced plans to increase rent by 25 per cent for tenants.

From July 2026, the council aim to raise the percentage of income rate from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent.

Members of the Housing and Community Strategic Policy Committee were presented with a copy of the government’s review on social housing rents.

The review described the proposed changes, which included a further charge of 10 per cent on top of the 25 per cent increase.

This will affect working households that have managed to grow their earnings above the current eligibility figure.

This can lead to family households spending up to 20 per cent of their income on rent going forward.

Councillor William Carey described this move as “like a dagger through the heart of working-class communities.”

Councillor Carey expressed his objections to the document and the council’s plans to introduce the rent increase.

He went on to criticise the HAP and RAS schemes,

“At no stage in the report is there any questioning of the farcical nature of both the HAP and RAS schemes currently in operation throughout the country, which see’s millions of euro spent on the private market to provide housing for social tenants.”

Cllr Carey concluded by saying he will raise the issue at the council’s next meeting to call on other councillors to reject both the proposed rent increase and the documents that seek to justify it.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme