Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to focus for a moment on REITs, which file an annual return by the end of February. What information is provided in the annual return? On the policy rationale, Ireland was a very different place in 2013. There were apartments available in Grand Canal Dock for what now appear to be very low prices. I can understand the logic of seeking to professionalise and institutionalise the rental market or, at least, a certain part of it. There is such a shortage of supply of stock now, however, that I ask the Minister of State to elaborate the Government's policy on this issue currently and the logic of it. One must compare the tax treatment here with the taxation treatment of ordinary landlords, who pay at up to the 55% marginal rate, and of Irish companies which hold property but do not meet the test to form an IREF or a REIT.