Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We need landlords and property owners in this country. Without them, there would be no properties to rent and people would find themselves paying higher rents or unable to find a rental property. Approximately half of rental properties in Ireland have a mortgage against them. In such cases, the property owner needs to pay the mortgage before gaining an income from the property. As has been acknowledged by Sinn Féin representatives, many people who own a property out of which they moved in order to emigrate or move to a bigger property with space for their family are now selling up. Once property prices rise, such people decide they do not want to be landlords any longer. They sell up and get out of the private rental sector. That is contributing to the problems we are now facing.

We must find an appropriate balance between the rights and protections we afford tenants and those we afford landlords. For example, should a person who bought a house and then had to emigrate to England or Australia during the recession but who is now returning to Ireland to take up a job in the public service and wishes to move back into the house be allowed to do so?

See this speech in context