Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

In the context of the Finance Bill and a reply to a parliamentary question which I received yesterday, it has been brought to my attention that tenants living in this country who are paying rent directly to a landlord living outside the State are liable for the taxation owed by that landlord. When I asked the Minister for Finance yesterday how much money was collected, how many tenants were affected, how many had defaulted and about any aspect of the mechanics of this provision in the Finance Bill, he was not able to provide me with any information. The response was that the Department is completely and utterly unaware. The unfairness of a tenant being liable for tax owed by his or her landlord harks back to the 18th century and the time of absentee landlords. I ask the Minister to re-examine the legislation and abolish the relevant section, which is obviously serving no purpose. There is no information available as to whether it is actually working. It must be changed and I ask the Minister to reconsider the legislation which is completely unfair and iniquitous in that it lays liability on the tenant for the landlord's tax liabilities.

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