Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because I know the committee is under pressure for time. I have been listening very closely to the Minister and the other members. I would like to think that all of us have one thing in common when discussing these matters, and that is the fact that we want more properties to be available and we want them to be available at an affordable rate that will allow people to have some disposable income. In other words, we want them to have enough income to live. If they are renting in the private sector, they should be able to rent but also have a quality of life. Every penny they have should not be going on rent.

I would like to think I have a very clear understanding of this area. As I always say at the start of a debate like this or when I make a contribution, I started in this way of life when I was 19 years of age. I have always said that and I am very open about it. I like to think I bring my life's experiences to the front when dealing with the issue, as a local politician and as a national politician after that. I hear people being critical of the people providing the accommodation but the one thing you have to remember is that the Government - not just this Government but successive Governments - takes the biggest take out of the rent take any person is earning. The Minister will have to admit that. To be very clear on this, for a person who owns a property, €1,000 in rent means €560 in tax. That is a fact. There is €440 left to run the property, pay the mortgage and pay the wages that are involved in maintaining the property. There are the white goods, the fridges and washing machines and so on. Every day there are things giving trouble and costing money and people are needed to do all that. There is also the turning over and getting places ready if there is a changeover of the people living in the property, and all that involves. Then there is the other side of renting property that nobody ever talks about or wants to talk about. It happens. You do not want to paint all people with the same brush but there are situations where a property goes back to the landlord and it has to be completely turned around to try to make it right again because of damage being done, as well as everything that goes on with non-payment of rent. You have to call a spade a spade. There are two sides to this.

The biggest thing people do not ever seem to want to talk about or acknowledge when talking about the high cost of rent is the high cost of the tax. People just seem to ignore that completely. I want everybody to follow it. That €1,000 means €440 in tax. That is undisputed and I am sure the Minister will acknowledge that. What I want to see happening in the county I represent is more local authority houses being built and being made available. I also want a stop to the people running away from the rental sector. I see it happening every day. Properties that are for sale at the moment are properties that were being rented out before. I am not here to advocate for the Government or for the Minister but when he spoke about what was happening in Berlin, nobody seemed to want to listen to him. It is a fact. It is happening in Kerry as well and it is happening in other parts of the country. People are selling their properties and they are getting out. They are saying that if they lived forever they would never again rent out a property because of two things. The first is the tax they are paying. It is so difficult to try to manage it and make it viable by the time you pay the banks. The banks have to be paid all the time. If people looked in depth at what it is, they would see all you are actually doing is juggling. You are juggling between borrowed money and providing a service. I am not looking for a medal for that and I am not saying people who are doing it are deserving of a medal but I do not want to see people being hunted out of it. That will lead to a further decline in properties being available. When that happens, all it does is shove up the cost of the rent. That means more money for the Government. I just wanted to make that point in the interest of balance and trying to be fair about the whole thing.