Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the House and I wish him well with this legislation. It is very welcome and it will give some certainty to people who find themselves renting. It also has safeguards for students. I agree with Senator Byrne on student accommodation and the need for campus accommodation. I would hope new campuses would be built in all of the new technological universities. It is important, as Senator Byrne has said, that those technological universities would have the power and the money to build on-campus student accommodation.

I do not envy the job the Minister must do in housing. I was listening to "The Pat Kenny Show" today discussing horrendous housing problems also in Sweden. Not long ago they built 1.6 million housing units and they still have a crisis. There is a crisis too in housing in Germany. You have to wonder how some of the greatest economies in the world have problems with housing. It may be a shortage of housing or a shortage of accommodation for renters.We are not unique in having a problem with housing. The late Brian Lenihan said in 2010, when he was Minister for Finance, that 25,000 houses per annum would be required, even after the crash. That target has not been reached in any year since and that is why we still have a major shortage.

We have to consider why so many small landlords are getting out of renting houses. Why is the accidental landlord or the person in the business in a small way, who may have one or two houses bought with the intention of providing a pension for himself or herself, getting out of renting? Why are some moving into the Airbnb market and why are some selling? An auctioneer on the outskirts of Dublin told me that all bar one of the 60 houses he sold in the past year and a half were second homes. Only one was a house owned by a person moving elsewhere. All bar one had been rented out. We have to ask why all the landlords are getting out of the business.

There will always be a need for rental properties. People who get their first job may need to rent. After getting married, couples who may not know where they are going to settle down rent. Where are they going to get the accommodation? Who is going to provide it? This is a matter that the Minister has to consider. I believe the problem is taxation because more than half of the moneys taken in from renting, be the rent €1,000 per month or €2,000 per month, is lost on taxation alone, never mind management fees and fees for repairs. I would love to see the breakdown for accommodation rented out by people with second homes to see what they are really getting from renting them. People who may have their property paid for are getting out of renting. They may not have any capital repayments to make. This is not just the case in some areas but throughout the country. In every city and town, people are getting out of renting property.

I welcome the Bill and wish the Minister well with it. I wish him well in the task of solving the housing crisis. He is doing a magnificent job in that regard because it is not easy.