Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their comments. I understand that Deputy Matthews's committee has been engaging with the RTB and the CSO on the classification differences and seeking to reconcile the data. When it comes to the CSO data, they are based on a person declaring they are a tenant but they may well be in the licensee category rather than being an actual tenant. Students or people renting a room may well declare they are a tenant, for example. Equally, an approved housing body tenant may declare they are a private residential tenant whereas they would be included in a separate category within the RTB data. There is a job of work to be done in terms of reconciling the data, but that said, the overall trend is very clear in the private rental sector. We are seeing a significant number of small-scale landlords leaving the market and that is causing the problems we are all very familiar with. We need to have an adequate supply of private rental accommodation to complement what the State is doing directly in terms of social housing, affordable housing, cost rental and so on. I believe this measure will be of assistance to landlords who are considering leaving, particularly if they have only one or two properties. They might give it a second thought and look at the policy of the Government, which is sending a signal that we value investment and we value the role landlords play. We want those who are in the market to stay in the market. We want to continue to attract investment because there will be a private rental market in Ireland long into the future. That means having landlords and that means a public policy response and that is what we are seeking to do in this section.