Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have lived in some of those bedsits, some of which were less than pleasant and, consequently, I see the advantage of trying to do something about that. As an aside, I note the real way to deal with the supply problem is for the State to engage in a far more ambitious public housing programme. However, setting all that aside, my concern is that the unintended beneficiaries of this measure might be the very big investors, notwithstanding the Minister's intention to direct it at bedsits and to encourage smaller-scale landlords to renovate some of these unsuitable properties or those properties which no longer even fit within the criteria and to make them available. What is to prevent this measure from being of major benefit to the much larger corporate investors in property? Is there some way in which the benefit they can get could be limited in terms of their overall income, if the Minister knows what I mean? In other words, very big earners of rental income should not get a proportionate tax break as against somebody whose income is relatively modest.