Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support the Senators who called for a debate on the future of small and medium-sized towns. I also want to highlight the work on this matter over many years of our colleague, Senator Paul Coghlan, particularly in highlighting the planning laws which allow very large retailers to locate outside of town. We all will be aware of the soulless business parks. It would not matter whether one was in Clonakilty or Clonmel, they impact on the hearts of our towns. Recently I had reason to drive through a number of towns and in Arklow, for instance, I was particularly struck at the impact of driving down a street where shop after shop was closed and all that were open were discount stores such as ¤2 stores and ¤1 stores. I ask that this House have a debate on the issue of the future of our towns. I would go so far as to say we need a national action plan to deal with this scourge. It must be very disheartening for those who live in these towns, including my own of Dún Laoghaire, looking at this level of deprivation and defeat. It is something that we need to address.

On another matter, I would urge caution on the matter of buy-to-let mortgages. As I stated in this House yesterday, one in five are now living in rented properties. There are statistics that show most Irish landlords only own one or two properties, which most bought in good faith to support their pensions. They did it with the full blessing and 100% mortgages given to them by the lending institutions. There are receivers being appointed by banks over buy-to-let mortgages and in many instances, the receivers are coming in, receiving the rent from tenants and not doing essential maintenance for them. When we go down the road of repossessing buy-to-let homes, we must bear in mind that a rented property is somebody else's family home. I would go so far as to say that there is a need for legislation to protect tenants in situations where homes are repossessed by banks.