Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies and I will be as quick as I can. Certainly, when it comes to multi-unit developments, all should have a sinking fund. A portion of the management fee should go into that every year so it builds up over 20 or 30 years and there is a pool of money then to carry out any works that need to be done. Whether you live in an apartment or a house, every 30 years or so you need to do major works to it. That is the nature of buildings, and that is money the owner has to pay.

In terms of the review of the Act, I do not know the timeline on that but I will check with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and will return to Deputy Cowen on that. I am not familiar with HomeHak but I will ask the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, to look into it.

On any tax package for small landlords in the budget, again, no budget decision has been made on this but any time we bring in a tax incentive or concession, it is done for a reason. We brought in a rent credit in the previous budget, for example, which means that somebody renting pays less income tax than somebody earning the same amount of money but who pays a mortgage or owns a house. We did that in recognition of the very high rents people have to pay. I expressed the view and I express it again that if there is any tax concession for small landlords, it must be linked in some way to benefits for the tenants as well. It cannot just be about the landlord.

I agree with Deputy Durkan and others on the progress being made in housing being welcome but still being too slow. We are increasingly using modern methods of construction. We have the new can Construction Technology Centre driving that and the National Construction Training Campus in Mount Lucas. I am a big supporter of modular builds and modern methods of construction but we also need to be realistic. The promise of them being cheaper and a hell of a lot quicker has never actually been realised. It might be quicker but it is rarely cheaper. It has a role to play but we need to be realistic about the extent of the difference it can make.

On the housing adaption grants, I believe that review is complete or nearing completion and it is with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, at the moment. It looks at the issue of income thresholds and the amount of grants that may be needed given the scale of construction inflation in recent years.

Deputy Barry mentioned housing issues and asked what we are doing to reduce rents. We have the rent pressure zones and have introduced the rent tax credit. We are investing in cost-rental housing in particular, which will benefit many people, and we are building more social housing, which allows many people to come off the housing assistance payment, HAP, into social housing, thus freeing up housing for others. These are the kind of things we are doing to bring down the cost of renting.

While there are vacancies in many schools, it is worth pointing out that there are more teachers in Ireland than ever before who are registered with The Teaching Council and employed by the Department of Education. We have initial talks now with the public sector unions on the next pay deal and pay round, which relates to the amount public servants, including teachers, get paid.

I join Deputy Lahart in welcoming the progress made by South Dublin County Council in acquiring 99 houses from landlords under the tenant in situscheme. It is a very good scheme. It means people who perhaps have been on HAP or the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, for a long period of time can become regular social housing tenants. I am glad that is really taking off, not just in south Dublin but throughout the country.

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