Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I will be pressing the amendment and I make the point that the Minister knows that in our alternative budget for the end of this year there was a surplus. The only reason I interrupted the Minister the last time was that, in fairness to him, he likes to be accurate in relation to what he says, but sometimes he gets carried away with himself in his attacks of me. That is the point. We have proposed a surplus for the end of this year. We ask the Minister to bring forward the White Paper and we based our alternative budget for next year on the basis that there would also be a surplus. That was clear to anybody who was at the press conference at that time. Those are the facts of the matter in relation to that. I note that the Minister avoided dealing with his own record in relation to that, which is a shameful record on housing. There is no way he can dress it up. There is no way whatsoever that he can dress that one up. It is worrying for so many people out there that the Government is not going to change tack. That is what is worrying.

Deputy Durkan likes to ask where the money is coming from. The core of this point here is that the largest landlords in the State, who are institutional investors, are charging rent of over €2,000 for homes in this State and they do not pay a penny in tax. They will not pay any tax under capital gains tax, CGT. They will not pay a penny in tax on the rental income and they will not pay any CGT. That is what is at the core of all of this and that is why I press the amendment.

I make the point to the Minister that last year he said that our policies would drive up rents and create fewer homes, but finally the penny dropped that he had to bring in the very similar policy, which was a credit for renters. All I can do is hope. I have two hopes, first that Government collapses and we have a general election and a chance to elect a government that will deal with the housing crisis that it has created. The other hope is that in the meantime the Government will see sense and will stop the incentivisation that the industry itself is saying is pushing up rents and that the Government’s housing policy is pricing people out of the market. The one thing I fail to hear from the Minister all the time when he talks about the need to build houses is the crucially important point - I have made the point about the role for not only public investment to be increased but also the need for private investment - that we need houses that are affordable. There is no point in building apartments that nobody can afford to rent or buy when they are backed up by tax treatments, reliefs or exemptions that have the impact of pushing up house prices and rents. That is the core of this is and I am pressing the amendment.