Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not disagree with the Minister. I and my party have been wrestling with how to deal with the private rented sector. The Minister has heard my concern over the risk that these well-organised, well-resourced real estate investment funds will take great advantage of this while small landlords do not. At the same time, there is potential for rent increases because we know renovation improvement works are one of the ways to increase the rent in a rent-pressure zone. I am flagging that this needs to be on the radar of Government and is something that we will certainly be tracking.

There is another thing that needs to be to be addressed. We asked for a breakdown of the private rented categories by real estate investment fund, AHBs and individual landlords. That data is not being collected. We were specifically told that they do not hold data providing for a breakdown by landlord type and that needs to be addressed.

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