Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief then. The amendment is reasonably self-explanatory. It has to do with providing tax credits or reliefs for many of those who are paying for levies in terms of defects identified in their apartments. These apartments would have been built during the so-called boom time period when regulation of the industry was not particularly sound, to put it mildly. We have a situation where those who are in the business of being landlords, institutional investors and others have the opportunity in the course of their business to claim against or write off tax against some of the work they may be required to do to bring apartments up to standard. The reliefs which may be available to them are not available to ordinary apartment owners. There is a clear injustice there. It is estimated up to 92,000 apartments built during the boom could be affected by defects ranging from a lack of fire-stopping material to rotting balconies and collapsing roof canopies. Some people are facing bills, we are told, of up to €60,000. This amendment requests the Minister to provide in this Bill for a modest form of relief on levies. It is fair and reasonable and I hope the committee takes that view also.