Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to again have the chance to discuss housing and people losing their homes. Private landlords seem to be blamed all the time by some Members. I do not condone the conditions of the properties of the landlords featured on a television programme recently or anyone who treats tenants in such a manner. However, there are good landlords. If a landlord has several houses, he or she has to pay 50% tax on the rent he or she receives. The Government should do something about the amount of tax landlords have to pay because it is driving up rents for tenants. I blame the tax take that is demanded from landlords, good and bad.

People lose their homes in different ways. They might have bought or built their homes and lost them through bad luck, misfortune and other things. It is very hurtful to see parents and their little children having to move out and present as homeless to local authorities and then be put up in bed and breakfast accommodation for weeks on end. There could be no end to it. It is very hurtful to see people finishing up in that situation. As I have highlighted and asked for before, when houses are being taken back by the banks, local authorities should be given funding by the Government to purchase those houses and rent them to those who are about to lose them. Such people should become tenants of the local authority and down the road it could be the case that their luck might turn and they would be able to buy back their houses from the local authority. That should be considered.

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