Mr. Tom O'Brien:

I accept the point made about rents. They must be affordable for providers of accommodation as well as for those who are living in accommodation. There is no investment proposition, in terms of entering a market, that is based on froth. Everybody wants rents to be affordable. Unfortunately, however, investors in the property market look at the prices properties command and these must provide for an element of return. If people are proposing that people should enter a market and trade at a loss, they are arguing for philanthropy rather than what takes place in the real world. Whether in Ireland, the United Kingdom or other countries, private sector investment will not occur where there is no return. We have demonstrated, through the figures, that property investment currently requires substantial subsidisation from the investor's wages and is not self-financing. I am afraid supply is driving rent increases. Until that issue is addressed through investment by the State and private sectors and the provision of accommodation by the latter, the current homelessness and housing shortage problems will continue.

To return to Deputy Coppinger's contribution, I am not sure of the relevance of her point that 4% of the population and 20% of Members of the Oireachtas are landlords. These are irrelevant and erroneous statistics.