Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I support the amendment though I do not altogether share the belief that landlords and renting are bad. The real problem is that we have taken an extraordinary attitude to renting. For years we had no proper regulation. The Private Residential Tenancies Board was a good idea but is not working. It has teething problems and needs to get its act together. This amendment will help force the pace in terms of getting more landlords registered.

It is criminal that our approach to supporting people in the private rented sector is that they get a subvention from the State only if they are unemployed. Many low income people should be supported and we should be trying to develop a high quality rented sector catering to people of all incomes rather than, as we have done, create a situation where a lot of rented property is geared towards people at the lowest end of the scale. We have not put investment into standards. We have no income support for people, which would give better control over the regulation of the sector and its management.

Renting is here to stay. It is much more prevalent in the rest of Europe than in Ireland and does not have the deplorable reputation which renting has obtained in Ireland. We need to strengthen our regulatory approach and be broader-based in the way we give income support and tax relief to people who choose to rent. We might then develop a high quality rental sector. I support these amendments, and some of the Minister's amendments also go a little way along this road.

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