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

First of all, I thank Deputy Ó Broin and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill. The legislation contained within this Bill would require estate agents and online hosting platforms to check if property owners have the correct planning documents before advertising their properties on their websites. If not, the law would then mean the platforms would be fined the amount they would earn per day from the property being rented out from their website.

I know Deputy Ó Broin will not mind me saying this. He is extremely proactive in this whole issue, and I very much respect all of the hard work and commitment he has put into his role. I do not always agree with everything he proposes, and he knows that. At the same time, I support his work ethic in regard to this. The one thing he is trying to do is what the rest of us want to do. We want to ensure we have a situation where there are enough properties available for people who need them, whether they are to purchase or the local authority is providing them. However, at times, we may have to agree to differ on how we do that, because we are not all the same. I could not agree all the time with Sinn Féin’s policies when it comes to housing quite simply because I do not believe they are achievable in the way Sinn Féin wishes to do them. It would be great if they could be, but I just do not agree they can be done practically.

I see where the Deputy is coming from with this proposal and it is only giving legal effect to what is there already and making it more easily enforceable. However, I am always concerned about what I call the undermining of people’s property rights. I am acutely aware of what Airbnb is doing to places in County Kerry. On one hand, we might say we want it, but on the other hand, it is making it impossible. For example, if we take a place such as Dingle, which we all adore, it is terribly difficult for those working there in the hospitality sector or any other type of job to get a place to put down their head at night. It is terribly difficult not just in Dingle but throughout County Kerry and in other parts of the country. If you are a worker going to place and you want a flat, apartment, house or house to share, you practically cannot get it or you definitely cannot get it at an affordable price. That is wrong. We should be catering for all different sectors of society when it comes to their housing needs.

However, we just have to be careful of one thing. I keep saying this and I will continue to do so because I want people such as those in Sinn Féin to follow this. I know they do not want to do harm to the housing sector, but what I see happening practically on the ground is people saying they will not be told what to do with their property anymore, so they sell it. When it is sold, it has gone from the rental market and it makes the problem worse. There are terribly genuine people here in the Dáil who are just doing what they consider to be right, but it actually could have the opposite effect. I know the Minister and the Government are acutely aware of that. I know the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is too because I have heard him speak about it and I have spoken to him about what I would call the exodus out of the whole rental market. We have to try to stop that because it will not benefit anybody.

On this whole thing about how it is wrong for people to rent out and charge exorbitant rents, the first thing we have to do is always remember that, whatever type of renting is being done, it is the people here in this House who are taking over half of it in tax. If people are paying €1,000 a month in rent, the Government is taking half of that €1,000. The Government cannot be giving out about it, because it is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the money that is being paid in rent.

We have to tackle this problem from the ground up and not be aspirational about it. We have to be sensible about what we are doing and not drive people out of the market. We have to ensure there are properties are available for short-term lets because we want people to go into areas such as Killarney, around the Ring of Kerry, Killorglin, Cahersiveen or Kenmare, or all of the parts of north Kerry. I give that example only because it is the county that I am charged to represent, but it also applies to the rest of the country. We do not want to send out a message that we are driving the operators of Airbnb or short-term lets out of that business and we do not want them anymore. Of course we want them, but we want them to operate in a balanced way and in a way they are not taking over from everything else and making the problem worse.

Again, I thank Deputy Ó Broin, because what he is trying to do is a thing called his best, and you cannot be blamed for that.

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