Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand the problem but I do not see a solution. That is my problem now. The first issue is the cost. We could also make a commitment to doing something in the future and including the cost next year but there could be unforeseen, unintended consequences along the lines of those mentioned by Deputy Boyd Barrett, in addition to other considerations.

As explained by Deputy Donnelly, the scope is very wide. The amendment appears to propose that any landlord who lets a property that was his or her primary residence and who also rents another property as a tenant would be entitled to claim a deduction for rent paid when calculating any net rental profit from the rental income received. If in this case one decided to get into rental property as an investment, would one's first move not be to acquire an apartment, rent it, then rent another one and keep moving along? One could have a chain of apartments against which one would be offsetting rental income from the first one. There are all sorts of difficulties.

We have made some progress already, however, and it is worth putting it on the record. In section 15, we committed that the interest allowable as an expense for landlords will be progressively increased from 75% to 100% over a five-year period. Therefore, there is an additional offset in terms of the interest on the mortgages. If a person rents his or her existing apartment to a tenant in receipt of a social housing support, he or she can get the 100% interest write-off immediately. He or she would not have to wait for the five years to elapse.

The second relief worth mentioning is that, having discussed this difficulty with the Central Bank, the bank is easing the prudential rules in respect of persons in negative equity. I raised this yesterday and committed to Deputy Donnelly that we would give him a briefing note on the changes. We did not send it to him last night but we will do so. I am prepared to talk about this again on Report Stage. Thus far, I do not see a way forward although I can identify with the difficulties for individuals the Deputy has outlined.