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

I thank the Acting Chair. I declare an interest in this whole matter but I feel I am very well equipped to talk about it because I see the problem as being the demonisation of people who have property to rent out. That is not an answer to the problem. We must try to ensure there is enough availability of the product. If we do not have enough of the product and it is scarce, people will not have the properties to rent. Not every Deputy would be willing to stand in the Dáil and say this because they would nearly be afraid to, but last night I spoke to one of the finest developers we have ever had in this country, who has been building homes for between 40 and 50 years, probably. He is a highly respectable individual. He told me that when we are at a stage when the garda and the nurse cannot afford to buy a house anywhere in this country, we are in serious trouble. He said the Government must be willing to sit down with people like him. He meant the developers and the builders, who are not bad people but people who have the brains to borrow money and the ability to acquire land and provide homes. However, they are not allowed to do so because everything is set up against them. With all due respect to people who talk about developers and property owners and so on, they talk as if there is something wrong with them. For God's sake, there is nothing in the world wrong with a builder. We had small builders, medium builders and big builders and we do not have any of them now because the sums simply do not add up for them and they are demonised for doing what they doing. I wanted to put that on the record.

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