Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Sometimes it is hard to come here and listen to what is being said. I find the statements being made in the housing debate disingenuous. While Senator Gavan might not have mentioned landlords, when he mentions private rental tenants he is indirectly referring to landlords because one cannot have them without landlords. The Senator can come here and take the stance he has taken because he is not responsible. He just wants a political line on a video clip. We need landlords and what has happened with them in the last two years? We lost 1,600 landlords last year and we have lost over 2,000 this year. This Government has brought in six Acts to control rents in the two years it has been in government. The interference of this Government in the housing market is the largest single investment in the history of the State. Some 50% of all houses delivered by this Government are controlled by the Government, be that through local authority housing, affordable housing or cost rental. Some 50% of the keys given out to individuals in this country are as a direct result of this Government's policy on housing. It is the single biggest intervention in the housing market ever. We have managed to build over 22,000 houses this year, despite being shut down for three months and we had commencements of over 31,000 units already in November of this year. We are addressing it and we are beginning to deliver. Everybody says it is all about supply. It is about supply and we are getting there through difficult times but let us not run down Housing for All and Rebuilding Ireland before that. They are delivering but we need landlords. All Sinn Féin's policy is doing is scaring landlords out of the market and making the situation worse than it already was. Some 86% of our landlords only own two properties or less. Over 90% of them own one property or less. These are the people Sinn Féin is targeting and running down every day. It wants landlords but it is running them out of the market with its lingo.