Ms Ann-Marie O'Reilly:

I will respond to some of the questions about statistics for homelessness. I will speak first on our own figures. In 2017 we saw that 38% of notices of termination brought to us were for the purposes of sale, 17% were for the landlord moving in, 12% were on the grounds of renovation and 8% were on arrears. I will make a brief comment on arrears. We were able to resolve the vast majority of arrears cases that were brought to us successfully for a tenant and landlord. That indicates that there is a way of resolving this and making sure that neither tenant nor landlord lose out on their home or rental income, respectively. On determining the reason for homelessness, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, has published some statistics on that in the last few years, indicating that about 50% of those presenting as homeless were coming from the private rented sector. A further breakdown of the figures is not available but the information is there. As the DRHE managed the pathway accommodation and support system, PASS, on behalf of all the local authorities, it is possible that it could extract the information. That would come down to the local authorities entering the information on the PASS in a regimented manner but it certainly is possible to determine that. In respect of the Bill proposed by the Government, we have suggested that all notices of termination be issued to the RTB, as well as the tenant. This is one of the recommendations in the Rebuilding Ireland review. The RTB itself could then monitor the reasons tenants are receiving these notices of termination. As it stands, we do not have solid, reliable data. Threshold can only comment on the tenants who come to us. The IPOA can only comment on the landlords who come to it and so on. Certainly either through the DRHE or the RTB, it is possible to start collating that information and making real decisions based on it.

In respect of profits and what is left to service the mortgage, as it stands, between 30% and 40% of rented properties are under a buy-to-let mortgage. While I have the greatest sympathy for those landlords who are struggling to pay a mortgage, it is only about that percentage who are paying a mortgage. Interest rates are at their lowest. It is certainly not enough just to say they must pay their mortgage. Ireland has one of the highest rental yields in Europe at present, second only to Cyprus.