Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, stated at the outset, to give this topic the attention it deserves would take more than is available to us today so many actions will speak a lot louder than words. I genuinely welcome the opportunity that has been provided by Deputies to discuss the private rental sector. I look forward to debating this topic further when the Government publishes its Housing for All plan and again when the Minister introduces the housing and residential tenancies Bill.

The Government believes everybody should have access to good quality housing to purchase or rent at an affordable price, built to a high standard and located close to essential services offering a high quality of life. The programme for Government, Our Shared Future, sets out the priorities in the area of housing over the coming years that will be given impetus by a clear plan of action under Housing for All. As already discussed, the Minister intends to publish a housing and residential tenancies Bill before the year's end to address, inter alia, comprehensive protections for tenants, balanced with constitutional property rights in relation to the current rent predictably measure, as well as tenancies of indefinite duration, subject to the advice of the Attorney General.

In the time I have remaining, I will address some of the other topics raised in today's motion. On housing standards, the motion implies, quite incorrectly, that the Government is not providing appropriate funding to local authorities to monitor and inspect accommodation standards in the sector. The motion contends also that the quality of rental stock is very poor and it quotes poor compliance rates in Dublin city as evidence for this. However, the statistics are taken out of context. The reality is that local authorities, on a risk-assessment basis, target the most problematic properties as part of their inspection programmes. Hence, to extrapolate that this non-compliance rate applies to the whole sector is simplistic and wrong.

The Department has made an increased budget of €10 million available to local authorities this year to aid increased inspections of properties and ensure greater compliance with minimum standards. This amounts to a 400% increase in funding in just three years and would in normal times allow councils to inspect up to 25% of all properties in the State each year. I say "in normal times" because, of course, the pandemic has had an impact, but I am happy to say the sector has been innovative in piloting virtual inspections, which the Department has been quick and happy to back with funding. The issue of an NCT-type certification has also been raised by a number of bodies in the past, most notably Threshold. Establishing and rolling out such a certification system for private rented dwellings, however, would have a significant resource implication for local authorities and the Local Government Management Agency.

On Friday last, the latest details on the number of people who are in homelessness were published. The monthly homelessness report for March and the homelessness progress report for the first quarter of 2021 were both published by the Department. The number of individuals presenting to homelessness services and the number of people accessing emergency accommodation have continued to decline. This follows a trend first established in the first quarter of 2019. Despite the positive trends, the number of people experiencing homelessness is still a major concern for me and the Government. Over the past year, substantial progress has continued on prevention work by supporting families and individuals at risk of homelessness and reducing the numbers accessing emergency accommodation. This must continue in earnest. A great deal of work has yet to be done.

While the various protections introduced in the rental market linked to the national Covid-19 response have contributed to the reduction in homelessness, the reduced numbers are also a result of the significant work and investment that has been undertaken, and I thank all our NGO and housing delivery partners in this regard. With the phased easing of the public health restrictions under way, the blanket moratorium on evictions has been replaced by more targeted protections for those most impacted by the pandemic and those who need them most. The Department is working closely with local authorities and tenancy protection services to ensure all resources will be brought to bear in guarding against any potential increase in homelessness. Local authorities and voluntary organisations have contributed greatly to addressing homelessness at a time when they are dealing with other major challenges in society. The Government has taken a lead role in providing investment and support and this will continue in the period ahead.

I want to be cautious as we look towards the future in seeking to maintain the gains we have made. While there has been strong progress, there is much work to be done in increasing the supply of housing and the delivery of social and affordable homes. The investment is in place and we are prioritising this work for the remainder of 2021 and beyond. There appears to be a suggestion from the Opposition that the Government favours institutional investors and bigger landlords in its policies. Our approach to this sector is not ideologically driven. It is driven simply by the desire to increase the supply of housing available to rent in the right places at the right price and as quickly as possible. Large-scale investment in property in appropriate locations has an important role to play in helping to deliver the professional, high-standard rental sector tenants deserve, but institutional investors occupy a small share of the residential housing market, with more than 96% of landlords having five tenancies or fewer. Historically, the private rented sector in Ireland has largely comprised small-scale landlords. They will continue to provide the bulk of private rented accommodation and the Government remains committed to working with them. Nevertheless, the Irish housing market benefits from a share of larger, institutional landlords investing in high-density developments, boosting supply.

As for recent concerns about institutional investment in housing estates, the Minister is reviewing planning law to protect first-time buyers, ensure a level playing field for purchasers and make sure investment goes where it is most needed. A range of steps has been taken to facilitate the sale of housing for first-time buyers through the serviced sites fund, the local infrastructural housing activation fund, the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, an expanded help-to-buy scheme, the Land Development Agency and, more recently, new affordable purchase measures. Institutional investors have the potential to provide significant investment in the residential housing supply at scale. While it is important to facilitate such investment through appropriate regimes, it is equally important to ensure that where such investment brings a profit, a fair share is paid in tax. Officials from both the Department of Finance and Revenue are continuing to monitor the taxation of IREFs and REITs. Revenue continues to analyse returns by both IREFs and REITs and has measures available to it in the event of any non-compliance. Should any additional measures be identified, further action will be taken as necessary.

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