A housing and homeless charity has welcomed a deal between Minister Kelly and Minister Noonan on the issues of rising rents and housing.

The Irish Times reported that a set of measures dealing with rent and housing supply have now been agreed and will go forward to cabinet for formal approval on Tuesday.

Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust, said: "The move to a two year fixed rental period offers additional security to tenants and certainty on the costs of rental accommodation. The fact that this type of two year fixed cost rental contract will apply for at least four years means that large quantities of new supply should have been delivered during the intervening period."

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"In order to ensure that these measures have the maximum positive impact I would encourage the Government to take two immediate actions. Firstly, we need legislation within hours of formal Cabinet approval to bring into affect the two year fixed cost rental contract to avoid an immediate spike in rents and thus resulting in an accidental increase in homelessness. The legislation also needs to clearly outline the measures which will place a strict onus on landlords to prove the rent charged is not above market rents.

"Secondly, and an essential element in ensuring that the first measure is not undermined, is to make every necessary resource available for the Residential Tenancies Board to allow them to monitor compliance by landlords and intervene rapidly and robustly when landlords are deemed to be non compliant."

(CD/LM)