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

It is clear that we have differing views. To be honest, the technical sort of answer we are being given is not really getting to the heart of the point. When one looks at this stuff, one sometimes thinks that money is being made out of fresh air for guys who have to pay 20% capital gains tax, or no capital gains tax at all if they hold on to their assets for longer than five years. Where is all this money coming from? I will tell the Minister of State where it is coming from. It is coming from the extortionate rents they are charging. That is where it is coming from. It is coming from the pricing out of the market of vast numbers of our citizens and small businesses that cannot afford these rents. In light of what is happening and what has happened over the past four or five years, I cannot believe we are not realising we have made a big mistake here. We need to grab as much of it as we can back to undo some of the damage we have caused. We need to close down all the speculation in property we have incentivised through these structures, with disastrous consequences for the property and housing sector. That is my view. That is why we are trying in a limited way with these amendments to shut this thing down and grab as much as possible. Does the Minister of State not see any value in what I am saying here?