Almost half of tenants in Ireland spend at least one third of their wages on rent.

A new study has revealed that 45 percent of those renting in the country drop nearly 30 percent of their pay on rental accommodation. 14 percent said that they spend one half of their wages on rent every month. The research compiled by housing charity Threshold asked 300 tenants how much money they had to spend on their accommodation per month. 96 percent of people said that they found it difficult to find an affordable place to live. Threshold's Chief Executive, John-Mark McCafferty, said that the findings were "extremely worrying, but not surprising." He said:

"Nearly half of those surveyed were working, but the fact that 14 percent of tenants are spending more than half of their take home pay on rent shows that renting is increasingly becoming out of reach for many people. "That, coupled with the fact that only 28 percent of those polled expect to be in a position to own their own home in five years’ time begs the question – what is the long-term solution for this group of people?”

At least one in five Irish households now live in the private rented sector. While the number of people renting in Ireland has increased over recent years, the legislative measures to protect renters are not as solid as those in most other European countries. Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, has said that Ireland's housing crisis is now the government's "number one priority." "We have developed a strategy to improve the private rented sector, Rebuilding Ireland is working, and we will continue to identify means by which to address this issue," he said.