Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I listened very carefully to what the Minister said on "Morning Ireland". When he was asked to defend the figure of 4%, he said it was evidence based and that everything he was doing was evidence based. Saying it is evidence based does not make it evidence based. When the Minister was asked to point to the evidence, it was very thin on the ground. He said the evidence was taken from the investments the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, makes. ISIF has set a target of a reasonable rate of return of 4%.

ISIF does not have a lot to do with housing. A 4% rate of return would be fair enough if we were starting off in a normal market situation. However, we are not starting in a normal market situation. This is not a 4% rate of return but a 4% increase on existing returns which, on average, have already increased by 45% nationally since the market bottomed out in 2011. If the Minister thinks a 4% annual return is a reasonable rate of return, it means we should not face any rent increases for another five years. People who have invested in property have already had a 45% rate of return during the past five years and it should do them fine for the next five years. This does not provide any evidence of the basis for the Minister's 4% figure. When the Minister was pressed slightly on "Morning Ireland", he diverted to something else. We are still awaiting the evidence. Maybe the Minister can provide it to us during this debate. Where is the evidence to support the figure of 4%, or was it plucked out of the air?

The Minister said he did not want landlords to be run out of the market and to withdraw their properties. He talked about landlords who were in negative equity. While there is no denying that some landlords are in negative equity, they are a small proportion of the market. Even bearing this in mind, what possible justification is there for making hard-pressed tenants pay for the bailout of a small number of landlords who maybe made investments that were not the smartest? What justification is there for making tenants pay for this bailout? Will the Minister explain it to us?

Let us get real about it and get a sense of proportion. While a certain sector of landlords are in financial difficulty or negative equity, we must bear in mind the very significant number of other landlords. I refer to institutional landlords, vulture funds and real estate investment trusts, REITs, sectors which dominate the Irish rental market. It is worth bearing in mind what some of those organisations have said about the Irish rental market. A few months ago, David Ehrlich, chief executive of the IRES REIT described the Irish rental market as "a great market". He said, "We’ve never seen rental increases like this in any jurisdiction that we’re aware of". He went on to say, "I truly feel badly for the Irish people". If the Minister would take his head out of his phone and pay us the courtesy of listening to us-----

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