Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to declare an interest in this issue, which is that I own a very modest rental property in Waterford. As the Minister knows, the private rental sector is in a state of chassis. Small private landlords are leaving the sector in droves. The fact is that every investment decision that is made is based on a range of push and pull factors. In the private rental market at present, there are many push factors to encourage people to get out and none to pull people back into the sector.

We must compare the treatment of private landlords with that of institutional investors. Closed companies, for instance, pay almost 70% taxation on their rental income whereas, as the Minister knows well, foreign parent companies with subsidiaries here can reduce their tax liability to almost zero. That is a major problem. It means we are only getting institutional investment partners in when most tenants would be better off with private landlords, who are far easier to deal with than any institutional investors. One of the reasons there are still properties in Dublin that have not been let by institutional investors is the benign taxation policy they enjoy. They can afford to keep apartments unrented to keep a floor under their value.

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