Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Certainly the Minister of State is getting much praise and it is justified to say the least. She has done much good work in her Department since her appointment and we wish her well. It is a challenging Department involving as it does the whole housing area and the manner in which housing and homes are changing.

During the Celtic tiger people purchased dwelling houses for investment purposes. Some of my friends would have purchased houses as a pension pot for their retirement. Unfortunately, the situation has changed dramatically and those people who invested in such properties are in negative equity and paying the same level of mortgage as in the boom years. Those who were most culpable in enticing people to invest in such properties were the bankers. We have all heard the stories of the period from 2000 to 2008 where bankers received incentives for enticing people to take out mortgages. The banking and financial sectors campaigned throughout the country to incentivise people to take out mortgages, buy a car and go on holidays, all of which people did in good faith. Those bankers are not being held accountable but the individuals concerned are left with the properties. Many of those properties are rented in the private property sector which is an excellent resource for individuals who are not in a financial position to provide properties for themselves.

It is interesting to note the home ownership rate in Ireland is 73.5% compared with 26% who rent. Of the 26% who rent, almost 15% rent at lower than the market rate and 11% rent at the market rate. Those figures are comparable with those in the UK and Belgium. In Austria the rate of home ownership is only 57%. In Ireland there was always a culture of home ownership which drove the initiative during the years when people invested in property and now find themselves in a very difficult position. As my colleague, Senator Averil Power, outlined they face a multitude of difficult scenarios this year, next year and in the following years. A very difficult situation arises where a person who invested in a property and is struggling to service the loan associated with it is providing that property as a home for somebody else. Obviously that person has legal obligations to ensure the home meets the desired standard as set out in the 2004 Act, which the Minister of State is proposing to amend. It is unreal that the State is asking those who are in a loss-making position, struggling to pay a mortgage and under pressure from a bank, to pay additional taxation. That does not make sense. Unless that issue is addressed people will hand the keys back to the banks to deal with the consequences. They will not be in a position to pay the mortgages on those properties if continuing charges are imposed on them. I ask the Minister of State to examine that issue as the private rental accommodation sector is crucially important to those who are renting as it is a home.

For example, in Foxrock in Dublin, people may have borrowed for a very large property or built or purchased a large property and due to no fault of their own, perhaps losing one job, they have to move out of the property and rent it and move into a smaller rented property. That is happening in the city of Dublin and in other parts of the country. This area is a minefield. If new legislation is being brought forward the Minister of State will have our full support. However, I urge her to look at the issue in as broad a context as possible and to meet the Irish Property Owners Association which has made valid points and must be listened to as it has a legal obligation to protect the tenants who are renting from the association. It is doing that as the law is in place to protect the tenant and the landlord. It is important to take all those issues into consideration in the new changed environment in which we find ourselves.