Fianna Fail has hit out at one of Ireland's largest private landlords after they revealed they would be asking for requesting two-months' rent as a deposit to secure premises in their portfolio.

Ires Reit owns 2,400 apartments in the greater Dublin area.

TD John Lahart said the move is excluding thousands of low or middle income earners.

He said: "It has long been the practice of landlords, traditional and institutional, to request a security deposit to move into a premises however, the norm has always been one months rent. Potential renters accept that a reasonable deposit is required.

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"An average month rent in a property owned by Ires Reit is approximately €1,500 which means that an upfront deposit would be in the region of €3,000 on top of a subsequent €1,500 for the first month's rent. This is a huge amount of money, an amount that most single tenants or those seeking private accommodation would never be fortunate to have.

"There are countless people that will not be in the position to part with such a significant sum to secure a deposit and are therefore excluded from renting a property owned by the Ires Reit.

"At a time when Dublin rents are already reaching new heights in expense, this move sets a trend and adds even further to their growing financial pressure.

"Justification for the move to double deposits has been allegedly based on the grounds that it is the European Norm, which is highly questionable – and even if it were the 'norm', the Dublin rental market is far from normal."

(CD/MH)