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

I appreciate that many tenants are in a desperate way. Aside from the cost of rents, landlords are terminating tenancies for different reasons. Many are terminating tenancies - we have to take them at their word - so that family members can move in to the houses. In other cases, where landlords cannot meet their outgoings, the houses have to be sold. They are entitled to take back the houses, and that leaves tenants in a desperate way. Availability is the problem. I agree with Deputy Wallace that there is no face or colour to the prices that some houses are making. Happily the prices in Kerry are not as exorbitant. There are some examples, but they are not as bad as here. There are prices being mentioned here that are ridiculous.

Most landlords, 95% or more, are very genuine people who also may be in financial difficulty. They have to pay off loans and mortgages. Many of them are paying over 50% tax on what they get for the rent of their houses. That is where the problem is. We have to do something about that. It is not worth the landlords' while, and that is why the rents are being increased. Most of them are genuine people, but they have to live too. The fact is they are paying too much tax, and that is why the rents are being raised or the houses sold. That is where the trouble begins. If something was done about the tax situation of landlords, I believe it would help the tenants as well. Many landlords are not able to make ends meet. I ask the Minister to consider this, because that is where the problem lies. The 50% tax rate is very unfair.

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