Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses make a very compelling case, especially for the community they have built, the lives they have chosen and their success. I want to get this clear in my head. The party buying a house and renting it out, whether it is a vulture fund, a Deputy or Senator or a businessperson, can put an end to a contract provided that party indicates it is to sell the property, leaving a three-month notice for vacating the property. Is that the kernel of the issue? It is the problem. In other words, there might be a guarantee, provided the landlord does not sell the house, that there will not be a rent review for two years but the problem arises when the party sells the house. That is putting the pressure on the witnesses and others in the estate, even those with varying lengths of tenancies. This is also relevant to the 300,000 people renting in this State.

It is an issue across the board. I will discuss the vulture funds shortly.

There is a deeper issue here for whoever is the landlord. How does one create a situation where, effectively, the tenants can stay? What one is really saying is that they cannot sell the house for a stated period to give longer-term security to the tenants who are in place. As Deputy Durkan said, there could be such a situation until there was a help-to-buy scheme or until other strategies could come into play. In other words, notwithstanding the fact that one might want to sell, and I do not know if this can be done legally, one is saying that one cannot sell until we come up with solutions - each one being different - to this problem. If a person is lucky enough to afford a mortgage, that is one thing. If he or she is on social welfare, he or she has a different capacity. The issue is deeper, notwithstanding the points that have been made.

Could we invite some of these vulture funds to appear before the committee? Could we ask Mr. Goldman Sachs and Co. - let us refer to the company as a personality rather than a conglomerate - to appear before the committee and ask them to explain what would be a solution for them? I refer to what the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, said to the committee when asked about this matter. If I recall correctly, he said that the vulture funds might be in a position to do a better deal than the person from whom they bought the properties because they got a bigger discount in the price. That is an issue we could pursue.

It is very complex. I do not disagree with anybody present. I support the witnesses' objectives - to stay in their homes, that they should not have to leave unless or until they are happy to go and that the stability of their lives is guaranteed in so far as it can be by whatever process we can put in place to assist that. Ultimately, however, we cannot stop people or entities from selling the houses if they are landlords.