Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is no point talking about the 4% cap because rents are increasing at a rate of 7% annually even in RPZs. This has been discussed on numerous occasions at various committees and in the Dáil by myself and others with regard to the ways around the 4%. This committee relies on verifiable statistics. Rents are increasing at 7% annually. The Minister argued that a temporary rent freeze would have other effects. I assume he is suggesting it would drive people away from investing in the market. We know what is happening and we will get to it later. Large institutional investors are buying up property. The funds are now the largest landlords in the State and later we will discuss the big giveaway in terms of how they are taxed.

I wonder whether, if rents in Dublin were €3,400 instead of an average of €1,700, we would make the same argument. I genuinely believe the Minister would. Of course, a rent freeze can be introduced. One was recently introduced in a European jurisdiction. We can do it if we believe rents are too high at a point in time. There should not be an indefinite freeze. We would not be allowed to do that indefinitely under the Constitution but it would be allowed on a temporary basis.

I do not buy the argument on the refundability of tax credits or the idea that if we introduced a refundable tax credit in this regard, we would have to do it for every tax credit. That is not true. It is us in the House, who are elected by the people, who decide what tax credit is refundable. There is no legal requirement on us. There is nothing in the finance code or any legislation ever passed in the House that states if a renter's tax relief was refundable, we would have to do the same for every other tax relief.

With regard to the capacity issue, I take the point. I missed the earlier discussion on the €2 billion cost of reliefs to which the Minister referred. The number of people who are able to avail o tax reliefs and multiple tax reliefs in the State is substantial. The number is approximately 250,000. The majority of the individuals who are renting, particularly given the levels of rent, are not receiving support from the State and this means they have a taxable income but a small but significant number of cases, such as students and others, need to be addressed.

I made the point earlier that I have great respect for the Revenue Commissioners and their ability and for the Revenue online service. I do not buy that they would not be able to deal with, in all likelihood, 10,000 or 20,000 refundable credits. We must remember that when this relief was introduced in 1982, the requirement was to submit an application to Revenue for the credit. It is not outside Revenue's capacity to be able to deliver a refundable tax credit in this regard. We are not speaking about 2 million workers or millions of different reliefs or credits that could be available throughout the entire tax code. We are speaking about a specific relief and a cohort who would be able to avail of that relief.