Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am opposing the amendment. I am suggesting what the Minister should have done instead. In so far as it is supposed to deal with the issue of rent, a serious regime of rent control should have been introduced. For example, I will set out how it works in Scotland. Representatives from the local authority go to a property, measure it up and examine how it ticks various boxes, including insulation, general quality and so on. The local authority decides that a given amount is what the landlord is allowed to charge and the landlord is not allowed to charge any more. It does not matter where the property is. The issue of profit for the developer or landlord simply does not come into it. That is the way it should be, particularly faced with the current situation. Instead, it seems we have to enrich these people by coaxing or luring them into providing social housing. We are effectively rewarding them for their rack-renting and discrimination against social housing tenants.

I do not know what to say. It is a pity we have come to this. Given that this is going to pass, will the Minister give the House a guarantee that this will be a short-term measure, the need for which will be removed by major investment in social housing? That would be cheaper and more efficient than this measure from the point of view of the State. This is money down a black hole. We are literally giving money away to these people.

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