Dublin City Council rent hike: Tensions run high as contentious budget passed by single vote
Tensions ran high in Dublin City Council as a contentious budget including a Council rent hike was passed by a single vote last night .
The core issue at the heart of the controversy related to social housing rent rates, which the Council will raise in order to meet the gap in funding for housing maintenance costs. While some councillors felt this was “picking the pockets” of Dublin ’s most vulnerable citizens. Others said this was a necessary hike and that those who voted against were simply “grandstanding.”
As protesters rallied outside the council chamber at Dublin’s City Hall , councillors voted with a tally of 31 in favour and 30 against, and the divisive budget was passed by a razor-thin margin. However, this was not before emotions ran high and each side passionately put forward their point of view.
Sinn Fein group leader Councillor Daithi Doolan said that any increases in rents would “impose further pressure on already struggling families.” With an ongoing cost of living crisis, he believes local representatives must use “what little power we have to protect these people from further hardship.”
“Families are really struggling with the cost of living crisis. People are being pushed to the pin of their collar trying to cover the cost of food, heating, and fuel,” he said. “The last thing working families need are increases in rents and property tax.”
However, not everyone thought things were so clear cut, as Green Party Cllr Janet Horner felt that those who chose to vote against the budget were “voting against action” and “selling lies”. She said that the budget was necessary to advance much needed housing maintenance and that those in opposition were playing with people's lives for “likes on Instagram and very little else.”
“You are voting against action. You are selling lies. You are selling lies and snake oil instead of actually allowing for action to take place. It is insulting and it is outrageous on behalf of the constituents we represent,” she said.
People Before Profit councillors Conor Reddy and Hazel De Nortúin recognised the need to address the more than €50 million shortfall in the Council’s housing maintenance budget and put forward an amendment to address the issue. This sought to scrap plans to raise rents for tenants and instead raise rates payments on the city's largest businesses.
Cllr Reddy explained how this would protect vulnerable tenants while also generating an additional €1.5m for housing maintenance on top of what is already allocated. Several councillors recognised the merits of the amendment while stating it hadn’t gone through the proper channels of consideration and that they could not justify voting in favour of such a major budget change with only a few hours notice.
Green Party Cllr Feljin Jose urged councillors that they “need to be very careful” about voting for a “€50 million policy that we haven’t studied.” However, Cllr Reddy was adamant that figures added up and that if it hadn’t been a viable alternative his amendment would not have been accepted by the Council.
This amendment drew support from the Progressive Alliance, which includes representatives from Social Democrats, Sinn Fein, People Before Profit, and some independents. Ultimately, the amendment was rejected with a tally of 31 against, 28 in favour, and one abstention from Social Democrats Cllr Cian Farrell.
A major point of division among representatives related to perceived substandard maintenance from the Council, which Social Democrats Cllr Cat O’Driscoll said has “not been a good landlord” to social housing tenants. With widespread reports of tenants living in cold, damp, and mouldy conditions, many felt it was unfair to ask them to pay more, while others argued the increased payment was the only way to tackle long-standing issues that have been left festering for decades.
Cllr O’Driscoll said the Council has “once again been left to fund a city without the means to do so” and criticised central government for allowing the housing crisis to worsen while waiting for “someone else to fix it.” She said that putting that burden on those in social housing is “letting tenants down” and that other options, such as a tourist tax on hotels in Dublin, make more sense.
Green Party Cllr Michael Pidgeon agreed that the “Dickensian conditions” some tenants have been forced to live in “are not acceptable.” But he felt it was important rents were high enough to cover “the basic day-to-day maintenance” funding the Council needed. “With good intentions, Dublin City Council charges some of the lowest rents in the city and the result is this bizarre thing — the city does not raise enough money and our maintenance budget is low as a result. Day-to-day maintenance should be covered by rents,” he said.
With 31 in favour of the budget and 30 against, the social housing rent hikes are due to be implemented from 6 April 2026. Affected tenants say they will continue to push back against these hikes and will be protesting outside City Hall next Monday in advance of the December general meeting of Dublin City Council.
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