Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 8, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “Report on supportive measures for rental property activation in areas impacted by defective concrete blocks

4. The Minister shall, within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on supportive tax measures for rental property activation in areas impacted by defective concrete blocks.”.

Amendment Nos. 4 and 11 are related. Amendment No. 4 is looking for the report, which is an additional way to ensure that if amendment No. 11 was ruled out of order we would be able to discuss this matter. I will focus my remarks on amendment No. 11 because amendment No. 11 is the substantive one. This deals with the issue of defective blocks and the crisis and nightmare people are facing across this State in many counties, including most dominantly in my own County Donegal.

When I say it is a nightmare, there probably are no words to describe what families are going through when they are living with the impact of defective blocks and their house crumbling before them, the scars their young children will have to bear, the challenges in terms of relationships and mental health and the financial pressure bearing down on these families as a result of a scheme that does not meet the cost of rebuilding a home. Those personal stories have been told over and over again. People have had to open up their hearts and homes and talk about the personal strain and their mental health challenges to try to convince Government to do the right thing and still the Government will not provide 100% redress.

I was speaking to somebody recently who is in the process of rebuilding their home. They told me they do not have the final figure but between €80,000 and €100,000 is the amount they will have to get themselves. The stress and pressure this is putting on people are unimaginable. This has happened because there was no regulation at the time, which allowed products on to the market that built homes that are like Weetabix crumbling in your hands.

This amendment deals with one small part of this. As homes are being demolished, people have to find other accommodation. When thousands of homes in Donegal have to be demolished, there is a serious accommodation crisis in the first instance. This amendment does not try to displace anybody in the rental market. That would be wrong. It would not be appropriate. It would pit affected homeowners against those seeking rental accommodation who are also under pressure in my county and others. What this is focused on is trying to release into the market homes that may be holiday homes or vacant properties that are not let out.

I was dealing with one case. This is what we do. Families come to us in desperation. They tell us they cannot find anywhere to live and their house has to be demolished at a certain time. We are literally phoning around people who may have a holiday home or maybe a mother, father, brother or relative died and the house is left empty to ask them whether they will rent their house to this or that individual. In many cases, it is really challenging. That puts another burden on these families.

This amendment would exempt from income tax the rent that would be received by an individual who rents a house to somebody availing of the scheme and who is in the process of demolishing and rebuilding their home. As the Tánaiste knows, there are significant gaps in the support provided to families in this situation but there is support of €15,000 for rental accommodation. It does not meet the costs any more because it takes quite a while to demolish and rebuild a home. That money comes out of the overall cap that is available. This is aimed at doing two things. First, it will, hopefully, suppress the cost that would be charged by these homes. Second, it would not include new build houses, new build rental stock or any property that was rented in the past three years. It is fair.

I raised the issue of the accommodation recognition payment, ARP, scheme. I have issues with this scheme and how it is applied. If I look at what is happening in County Donegal, there are 2,100 Ukrainians who avail of the ARP scheme in the county. That is 2,100 homes in the main - because most of them are in their own properties - and they are competing with the rental market. There are no provisions like the ones I built into the amendment in the ARP scheme. In fairness, the Minister and the Government have acknowledged belatedly that there is an issue with the rental market as a result of that scheme. There are 2,100 individuals who are able to avail of the scheme and the State pays the rent and the landlord is tax exempt on that rental income.

We have a humanitarian crisis involving people living with defective blocks. As more and more of these houses have to be demolished in Donegal, Mayo and elsewhere, it would make sense to target homes that are not on the market. They can only be vacant homes that are not being rented out or holiday homes. I hope that after the house is rebuilt and the family moves into the house, the individual might decide to continue to rent out the property under normal market circumstances, which would increase the housing stock as a result.

This is a serious issue. It is one small part of the overall nightmare families are experiencing in relation to defective blocks. Even if there was 100% redress, and we in Sinn Féin will continue to campaign for 100% redress, we would still have an accommodation crisis. That is what we are trying to deal with in this amendment. How do we incentivise more properties coming onto the market without competing with young families? People coming to my clinic are telling me they are being evicted, have been given notice to quit and cannot find rental properties. This is about making sure we do not affect them and looking specifically at homes that are not on the market. It is a fair thing to do. There is precedent for it in the ARP scheme. It would be time-limited obviously because these houses have to be demolished and rebuilt and it will have an automatic sunset clause when the scheme comes to its conclusion.

See this speech in context