Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right that part of the answer is public housing. That is why we are investing billions in it. We have an over-reliance on the private rental market in the short term while we build up the social housing stock to deliver the kind of capacity that is needed. Our population is growing by over 70,000 per year at the moment and many families are under pressure in the private rental market, some of whom are facing the challenge of homelessness. We are changing that, primarily through driving housing supply.

The Deputy asked whether we should provide the protections contained in the Tyrrelstown amendment in cases in which fewer that ten properties are sold. One needs also to consider property rights in the Constitution and there was a lot of legal discussion on the amendment and how low we could make that number. I was in the middle of that discussion.

As I said earlier, 70% of landlords in Ireland only rent one property. If we create a situation whereby they are unable to sell that property, that raises the spectre of people not making properties available for rent at all. The consequences of that would make many of the issues we are discussing even more difficult and pressurised.

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