Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman. We will have to get binoculars to help him.

I welcome the legislation and I thank the Minister for introducing it. I listened to Deputy Barry but my reading of the Bill is that it puts a freeze on any termination notice. It does not lead to the sort of cliff edge at Christmastime that he was talking of. That may be of consolation to him.

We really need to look at the long-term stability of the rental sector. We are continually coming up with short-term solutions in this arena and they really do not allow us to develop the sort of long-term stable rental sector we have seen in other European countries. We seem to have a very strong aversion to seeing institutional investors, such as pension funds, coming in to develop well-regulated, well-maintained and well-kept properties that would be provided on a long-term basis. Time and again people say this form of development should be banned in Ireland but I do not believe this is a long-term sustainable approach.

We also have a real problem with the State supports we have had. As many speakers have said, the State has relied for far too long on the private sector to provide solutions when we need to support people with their rentals. In recent years, however, we have unwittingly been in a situation where the State provides supports and effectively competes on a substantial scale with ordinary members of the public who are looking to enter the private rented sector. The kinds of supports we deliver on such a scale through the housing assistance payment, HAP, and rent supplement are simply not sustainable unless we create a much greater supply of private rented accommodation. Everyone recognises that we have fallen behind on the provision of social accommodation and social housing, but we also need to see an expansion in the private rented property area. There is a huge difference between a family trying to pay 100% of the cost of rent from their own income without any tax relief, and a family being offered differential rent of 12% or 15% of income. Those two families are treated in an extraordinarily different way, despite the fact that there may be only a very small difference in their income positions.

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We need to think more clearly about that approach. We also need to get over the sort of anti-landlord rhetoric seen in this house. If we want a greater supply of housing, some of it will have to be provided by private owners. If we want to go beyond home ownership alone, we will need landlords. This is what they do. Like any other business, they act in a fair and reasonable way. I am all in favour of good, balanced legislation which puts responsibilities on landlords but I do not think this constant vilification is useful. Indeed, "landlord" is almost a term of abuse in this House. It is bandied around as if landlords were in some way trying to undermine our society. Some of these people are genuine and many are accidental landlords as a result of one event or another. We need a more mature approach. I welcome the legislation but we need to move towards a more balanced set of proposals in respect of the private rented sector to ensure stability.

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