Mr. Tom O'Brien:

-----but some of the questions lead one to that conclusion. Some of the questions are so basic in substance that there is no other way to address them. We do not need to prove statistics. You guys need us more than we need you. We are not trying to sell a concept here. There is a severe shortage of accommodation in the market. All the political measures are anti-supply. There is no taxation basis and no business case for investing in buy to let property at the moment. A person doing so will pay 55% tax, funding costs of 6%, management charges, local property taxes, and taxation that is not treated on a consistent basis with other industries. If we are sitting here a year from now, the 2,800 properties that are available nationally will have fallen to closer to 2,000. I would say to Deputies Jan O'Sulllivan and Barry that a welcome development would have been the introduction of a measure to incentivise people to get into the market. I do not hear many people discussing capital allowance schemes in areas of high demand.