Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask, first, about accommodation standards; second, about the "populist left wing agendas" that the delegation highlighted; third, about the number of landlords; and, fourth, about taxes on profits. I will start with the great standards that the IPOA believes its members are maintaining in the private rental sector. Last year, Threshold received 1,836 queries relating to substandard accommodation and raised issues about a lack of adherence to fire safety regulations. Do these relate to the IPOA's members or have the witnesses proof to the contrary? The witnesses are telling us that the IPOA's members join to become familiar with the regulations.

According to the third page of the delegation's submission, the IPOA wants the Government "to ignore populist left wing agendas". Does this mean that it follows an elitist right-wing agenda? The two contrast. The delegation was being political.

The IPOA believes that landlords are a vital part of the solution to the housing crisis. Based on the facts, however, there is an oversized number of landlords. That number is increasing, it is not, as we hear from the IPOA on the radio every day, decreasing. The RTB appeared before the committee a few days ago. Between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, there was an increase of 15,904 landlords registering properties with them. Only two things can be happening. How does the IPOA explain the discrepancy in the number of landlords who it asserts are exiting because they cannot make a living in the private rental sector and these figures? Either the IPOA's members did not bother to register with the RTB before suddenly doing so or there has been an increase in the number of landlords. We must say that it is the latter. According to the RTB, the number of landlords is between 180,000 and 190,000. That is 4% of the total population and 5% of the adult population. In the Dáil, the figure is much higher. Between 20% and 25% of Deputies are landlords. The IPOA is actually well represented in the Dáil, given these figures. The most recent figure was approximately 20% and probably includes members of this committee, although I do not know which.