Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Our landlord and tenant system is not the same as any continental one, even the Austrian one. Maybe we should give tenants more rights under the Constitution and maybe we should use much more social housing to ensure, as in Vienna, that people have their rights vindicated. I have no problem with any of that. However, in the particular market that we were facing what was proposed was a disaster. It was a red flag in every sense, and it just spooked everybody.