Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Could I have just two seconds please, Chair? When they sell their properties there is not a hope that they will go back into the rental market again. The statistics are frightening. I am fearful of a future without a balance. I want the balance to be that the local authorities would provide the vast majority of housing, if they are able to get their act together and do their job, but if they cannot, houses would have to be available on the private market. Unfortunately, the climate and the political atmosphere currently are not conducive to that. Members should not get me wrong when I say this: the politicians who are attacking the people who provide accommodation do not intend that result because they are well-meaning people who want to see more people have accommodation at affordable costs, but what they are doing is actually having the opposite effect.

When in the name of holy God are people going to wake up and see that for what it is? People are bailing out day after day. The houses that are for sale are coming from the rental market, they are being bought and they will never again go back into the private rental market. Of course, we have the situation with the vulture funds which are coming in, which are buying up massive amounts of property and which are doing what they like. They do not pay tax at the rate of 56%. God only knows if they pay much tax at all. They definitely do not pay 56% in tax anyway-----