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

I thank People Before Profit for allowing us this discussion. I appreciate that everyone is trying to do their best but, sadly, I see in this proposal a lot of nonsense that just will not work. The Bill does not state whether it is referring to local authorities or otherwise. In my view, the local authorities assess income and treat people on lower incomes accordingly. Those people pay less rent. Those who tabled the Bill must be referring to private landlords.

To add to what the previous speaker said, many landlords pay 52% tax, and maybe something could be done about that to ensure that landlords will stay in the market and continue providing housing. I suppose the Government has a role in this. It could give more money to the local authorities to purchase more land and build more houses in places like Gneevgullia and Rathmore, for instance. The Government, however, is now putting on pressure to ensure that Airbnb is ruled out of order. There is a reason landlords opt for that market, and that is that they have control over their houses. I deal with many people looking for houses to rent. I also know many decent landlords who want to get out of the market but cannot do so because the Residential Tenancies Board is more in tenants' favour and will not allow landlords to get out. Many tenants are staying on in their houses and refusing to go even though they have been given proper notice. That is why landlords are getting out of the market. They do not have control of their houses. The Government needs to do something about that if it thinks private landlords are going to stay in the market.

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