Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As in other cities with REIT-style investments, investors tend to want to get rid of existing tenants and re-let apartments, perhaps having done them up, at much higher rents. This is a Government policy and has nothingper seto do with any of the officials, but could the Minister of State enlighten us on that policy? In New York, San Francisco and the City of London, similar vehicles result in the large-scale turnover of less well-off tenants in favour of "yuppie" apartments that are done up for wealthy people, often putting them out of reach of current locals.

I understand the Minister of State's point about the needs of the small investor and so on and that this may be an attractive vehicle but, in terms of the social consequences of this type of investment, has he any concern about how some of them have operated to date in certain circumstances?