Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. I will take my slot now. My colleagues can ensure I do not abuse the clock. We could talk about the entire housing market and that is what we do here on a weekly basis, and sometimes it is hard to pin it down to one area. I agree with the assessment we have had on the under-supply of public housing for a decade. The strong commitment to public housing on public land will help to rebalance the market, which is what the Government is committed to doing and is why we will be questioning local authorities and AHBs about their delivery in that sector. I want to understand what is happening now, which is the departure of landlords, and I want to try to get to the bottom of the motivation for that. Landlords do two things: they manage their asset value and they also manage a business, the day-to-day business of being a landlord. If it is possible to have lower taxation by owning a property through a company, why do more landlords not do that?