James Bannon (Fine Gael)

Is the Government planning to operate a tax amnesty for landlords and is it perhaps planning to rectify some problems in the private rented sector whilst turning a blind eye to others? As the register of landlords and tenancies will not be open to the public under the Freedom of Information Act it appears we will never know. So much for transparency and the law being seen to apply to all on an equal footing.

The Minister's plans to allow tenants who have been renting a property for more than six months to have the security of remaining there for four years whilst admirable in theory has an easy get-out clause for the landlord who will be entitled to recover possession for specified reasons. As I have stated in the past, this is open to abuse. I do not believe this legislation will guarantee security of tenure for tenants despite what the Minister of State said this morning.

This proposal is contrary to the substantial tenant demand for flexible leasing arrangements. The imposition of such rigid guidelines fails to recognise the complexity and variety of the residential letting market. A survey by Millward Brown IMS on behalf of the Irish Property Owners' Association in May 2002 states that 65% of tenants would prefer to negotiate individual flexible leasing arrangements. This legislation will, unfortunately, damage the sector it is purporting to support. Some of its proposals are welcome and long overdue but its preoccupation with centralised regulatory control could be its undoing.

The proposal for compulsory registration and deregistration of each tenancy will be a bureaucratic nightmare. Whilst local authorities should know the location of rented properties in their areas the proposed method of accountability is cumbersome and overly bureaucratic. If countries such as Germany, where 70% of accommodation is in the private rented sector, can function without such a system for the resolution of disputes, so too can Ireland.

The Government has, in this legislation, juggled the rights of tenants and landlords, perhaps benefiting nobody in reality but it has categorically failed to take the necessary steps to increase the supply of rental accommodation in Dublin. The Commission on the Private Rented Sector recommended that investors be treated in the same way as any other business for tax purposes. However, for whatever reason, the Government was not prepared to take this essential step. Bringing investors back into the housing market must be a priority if we are to increase the supply of rental properties in Dublin.

The Commission on the Private Rented Sector proposed several tax reforms on inheritance tax, CAT, pension provisions and other standard business relief. While the legislation goes beyond the commission's recommendations in many areas, we have yet to see any action on the tax reform proposals.