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

I thank our Whip, Deputy Mattie McGrath, and David Mullins and Máiread McGrath in his office, for the preparatory work they did in bringing forward this very important motion. Each and every one of us, from all political parties and none, are all dealing with one issue which is the same to all of us, namely, the people who are affected by the crisis that has not gone away. There may have been an economic recovery for some but there are many others who are really in trouble. As lately as today I had three new cases of people in serious financial difficulty. The categories of people I am talking about are homeowners in their family homes, small business people such as someone with a small shop or a small, struggling business, small publicans, and the likes of a farmer who tried expanding and borrowed money to try to better himself and his output and make his business sustainable.

Those are the very people we as politicians should be doing everything we can to protect. We should be doing everything possible to help further their best interests and carry them into the future. I remember many years ago when it was thought that planners and other such people were trying to prevent people living in the countryside. There might have been condemnation of a farmer who sold a site. A funny thing about that practice, however, was that, even though the farmer might not have wanted to sell, the sale of a site might have sustained the family's small business and made it viable for years to come. The sale of half an acre might have made it possible to build sheds, install a slatted tank and improve the rest of the farm. A small business was helped at a critical time in the life of the farmer and people were also brought into the rural community.

This motion is an effort to help people and protect them from vulture funds. The same thing happens now in many places when properties become available. Hundreds of units are being sold to big groups of investors at home and abroad. We will regret that in future. We are driving people involved in private rental accommodation out of the business. Those people are only trying to better themselves and make a living. I am talking about people who might have only one to four units for rent. Those people are not going to remain in that business given some of the proposals being brought forward by other Members of this House. They are trying to criminalise those types of people. We are going to finish up with people renting accommodation from landlords with as many as 500 or 1,000 units. It will be possible for those property owners to create a monopoly in the market and increase rents to whatever price they want. We will rue the day we allow that to happen.

Turning to the vulture funds, I have long worried about the Taoiseach's comments regarding their activities. Those funds endanger young and middle-aged couples with mortgages. I am not surprised, however. To judge people's ability to make good decisions it is necessary to look at what they have done themselves. I hate talking about someone who is not here. I would much prefer if the Taoiseach was here when I speak about his own life experience in business, or lack of it. It is the same with other Government Ministers and people in charge. I consider what they have done in their own lives. Have they ever paid a week's wages to any man, woman or child at the end of a week? If they have not done much in their own lives, it is difficult for them to know the problems faced by people in business. I am talking predominantly about small business people. It is very difficult to understand the problems other people face without having experience.

I worry when I hear the Taoiseach stating that he thinks it is a good thing to have vulture funds coming in here, buying up masses of loan books and then being in charge of the destiny of those people. This is happening at a time when the families concerned might not even know the sale has taken place. That is horrific. It is a major worry.

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