John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are some who like to pretend that you could have a properly functioning private rental market without landlords, but as the Minister well knows, that is impossible. The Government always strives to strike a balance in keeping landlords in the market. I do not accept that we should just throw our hands up in the air and say of those landlords who are leaving, “So be it”. There is a place for the Government to encourage landlords to remain in the market, as we need a strong private rental market. The IPOA and the IPAV are before a joint Oireachtas committee at this moment, and I will have to excuse myself shortly to attend that meeting. I am sure that the IPOA is saying that its members want to remain in the market but that there is simply not enough in it for them to do so.There has been a vilification of landlords by people in this Chamber and in the other House for far too long. The narrative out there that landlords are awash with money and able to make significant sums is simply not the case. In a report commissioned as part of Housing For All, CSO data shows that around 80% of landlords own one to two properties. Many landlords either owned a property before they got married and then had a surplus house, inherited property from a deceased family member or purchased it with a second mortgage. These are small landlords who provide much-needed housing for individuals and families. They have been vilified by many in the Opposition and that is not appropriate because they provide much-needed rental accommodation. I welcome the introduction of this tax credit but do not believe it goes far enough in order to retain landlords in the market. Let us not forget that without these landlords there are no tenancies and without tenancies we would have more people in homeless accommodation. That is the reality of the matter and to pretend that we can have one without the other is simply fantasy.