Ireland’s housing crisis was again in the spotlight as candidates made a last dash around the doors on the byelection campaign trail. It followed the news that rents had increased by a record quarterly rate. As Colin Gleeson reported, rents surged by 4.4 per cent between December and March as the Government’s new rent-control system came into effect, according to a new report from property group Daft.ie.The biggest shake-up of rent regulations in a decade came into force at the start of March when landlords were permitted to reset rents to market rates in between tenancies.The new rules, which overhauled what had been existing rent pressure zone legislation, mean landlords can increase rates by 2 per cent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Tenants now enjoy greater security of tenure, with new six-year tenancies of “minimum duration”.The report showed that between December and March, rents rose as much as they had in the whole of 2025. In this period, they climbed 40 per cent above pre-Covid levels, 75 per cent above the Celtic Tiger peak and 81 per cent higher than 10 years ago.The information was seized upon by Opposition candidates in their final days of campaigning for byelections in Dublin Central and Galway West . It also led to heated exchanges in the Dáil as the Government defended the rent-regulation changes. As Marie O’Halloran, Harry McGee and Tim O’Brien reported, Taoiseach Micheál Martin questioned the use of the Daft.ie report as the basis for assessing the rental sector as a whole. He argued that it was not based on a comprehensive data set covering the entire market.Martin was called a “slíbhín” by Sinn Féin as he made his defence of the Coalition’s rent reforms amid much disruption and heckling.He said the number of tenancies had increased to more than 240,000, a record level, because of the Government’s housing policies.Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described the rental rule changes as a “disaster” and said evictions were at their highest level since the famine era of the 19th century.“It takes a very particular type of slíbhín to stand in this House and suggest that it is okay for families to face a rent bill of €30,000 a year in Dublin and €27,000 a year in Galway,” she said.The report noted year-on-year rent increases of 18 per cent in Galway, followed by Cork (13 per cent), Limerick (10 per cent), Waterford (8 per cent) and Dublin (6.9 per cent).The Taoiseach told the Dáil “you have to treat the Daft data with care in terms of any proper comprehensive analysis of the rental market”, pointing instead to Central Statistics Office figures showing a 0.3 per cent monthly change in rents during the first quarter.Byelections all over – bar the voting and the counting.The posters went up, countless doors have been knocked and anyone following politicians on their social media feeds will have been subjected to many, many annoying campaign videos. Voters in Dublin Central and Galway West have until 10pm on Friday to cast their ballots. The counts, starting on Saturday, promise to provide plenty of drama after a closely-fought election race. Voter turnout was slow enough during the morning in both constituencies.Before lunch, the average turnout in Dublin Central was 10 per cent. In Galway West, it was between 8 per cent and 14 per cent by 12.30pm.Turnout is usually lower in byelections than at general elections. We’ll be keeping you updated with developments during the day here.The Irish Times politics team offered an assessment of which candidates will emerge victorious in both constituencies during Wednesday’s Inside Politics podcast, where our hot takes and wild predictions are recorded for posterity. We will, of course, be keeping readers abreast of byelection developments as the counts proceed on Saturday – and potentially into Sunday, should things go slowly or recounts become necessary. Anything else happen?There were several big stories during the week. Montrose chiefs were back before an Oireachtas Committee on Wednesday to face questions about pay at RTÉ. Director general Kevin Bakhurst and others from the broadcaster were grilled by TDs and senators. The line of questioning varied, from criticisms of the top-10 earners list to matters relating to Dancing with the Stars and Callan’s Kicks. Jack Horgan-Jones has a good summary of proceedings here. Miriam Lord described the hearing in her piece as “Another top notch Kildare Street outing from RTÉ”. On Thursday, Pat Leahy and Ciara O’Brien reported on how Meta is cutting 20 per cent of its workforce in Ireland and there are fears in Government that there will be wider cuts in the tech sector. Also on Thursday, Martin Wall revealed how Irish Rail has concluded that a new IT system to control the movement of trains across the country is unlikely to be used and has written down the €50 million value of the project in its accounts. This unsurprisingly prompted criticism at the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee where its chairman, Sinn Féin TD John Brady, claimed it was “a national scandal”.The long-delayed Occupied Territories Bill will finally be brought to Cabinet in the coming weeks. However, as Jack Horgan-Jones and Naomi O’Leary report, the Government is set to ignore calls to restrict trade with territories illegally occupied by Israel. Expect much criticism of this omission from the Opposition. Action on the long-awaited legislation follows international condemnation of the treatment of activists on an aid flotilla to Gaza who were detained in international waters by Israeli forces. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the right-wing Israeli security minister, later taunted Irish activists and others in a widely circulated video. His actions were condemned by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The 14 Irish citizens present arrived in Istanbul after their deportation on Thursday. Britain’s King Charles III is set to undertake a state visit to Ireland, with President Catherine Connolly saying he “graciously accepted” an invitation during their meeting in Buckingham Palace in London on Monday. Mark Paul reports.