Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for putting forward the Bill. It is a very important issue but how many more times will we debate it? This huge problem is becoming more acute by the week literally. It is an awful situation. We then come into the Chamber and start demonising landlords and painting them as bad. The vast majority of landlords are decent people and there are some rogues.

The Government seems to be infatuated with the big conglomerates and entities that have multiple properties. We see that on a daily basis. I do not know but it is very difficult. It is so hard on people but, then again, there was a clamour in Dublin when 1,000 bedsits were closed down in one day with the stroke of a pen. Therefore, we cannot have our cake and eat it. We cannot just close down such places. I am sure many people would be very glad of those bedsits if they were available now, especially the homeless people. I am not saying that they should live in inferior accommodation or anything like that but the Government keeps pruning away and driving landlords out of the market with taxation. I am not a spokesperson and I do not have any second properties let or anything else. Looking at it from the outside, if the Government keeps taxing and burning landlords, they will exit the market.

I thank my staff in my office, which is overrun every day by people with notices to quit because of market reasons. Above all, the reason is it is not viable for landlords or they do not find it tenable anymore to remain in the market. Accidental landlords, or whatever you want to call them, are fed up with it. There are some very bad tenants. There are lots of good tenants but there are some very bad tenants who have done enormous damage to properties.

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