Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

There has been a lot of focus, rightly, on the question of owner-occupiers, who make up about 14,000 of the loans in Project Glas. The statement submitted by Mr. Masding claims that "As the Governor has also pointed out, the evidence to date does not support the narrative that these secondary buyers are managing these loans any more aggressively than the original banks were." That certainly does not hold true in the treatment of buy-to-lets. My concern here is not primarily for the owners of buy-to-lets but for the tenants. There have been several quite horrific cases, including Tyrrelstown in west Dublin, the ongoing situation in Leeside in Cork and the Strand apartments in Limerick. In these cases, vulture funds get their hands on many units of accommodation in one location and move quickly either to hike up rents or to evict people, supposedly in order to renovate, and then to hike up rents. Do the witnesses have concerns for the tenants of buy-to-let properties that are included in Project Glas?