Danny Healy-Rae Criticises Housing Bill and Pushes Tenant Purchase
Danny Healy-Rae spoke about housing policy, arguing landlords should retain the right to sell or transfer houses and calling for restoration of tenant purchase rights for long-term renters. He urged the minister to do more on taxes, council house sales, support for small builders and the reintroduction of demountable homes.
Landlord rights and tenant protections
Danny Healy-Rae thanked Lea for the work on housing but warned it would not be fair to stop landlords from selling their houses or giving them to family members. He expressed concern for tenants who are asked to quit after many years yet are not on housing lists, noting long waits for council housing in Killarney of ten to twelve years and rising rents.
Tax burden and rent pressures
He highlighted that most landlords are paying tax at the rate of 51% and questioned why the government does not reduce that burden and spread relief between tenant and landlord. He framed tax relief as a way to address high rents and ease pressures on both landlords and tenants.
Tenant purchase scheme and council house sales
He described a stoppage in tenant buy-outs from about 2011 to 2017 that left some long-term renters, now of pension age, unable to buy the homes they had lived in for decades. He also said local authorities currently cannot sell council houses built since 2015, restricting tenant purchase options.
Impact on builders and private-sector reliance
He argued the proposed housing bill appears to rely heavily on the private sector - developers and small builders - and warned VAT, taxes, levies and regulations are making it impossible for many small builders to operate. He said builders can no longer secure stage payments and must carry full construction costs until completion, a practice he says is putting small builders out of business.
Local authority building and demountable homes
He suggested giving funding to local authorities to build rural cottages where applicants provide a site, and he raised concerns from Kerry County Council that a previous demountable-home system has been defunded. He appealed to the minister to discuss reinstating quick sited demountable homes for people who will not leave their birthplace and who live in properties that have fallen into disrepair.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thank you very much. First of all I want to thank Lea, while I do not agree with maybe parts of what they are proposing, I appreciate anyone that is trying to do anything about housing and I want to thank Minister Darrow O'Brien for all the work that he has been doing, but I have to tell him there is more to be done to get this off the ground. I suppose the first thing there in relation to what I see here proposing, it would not be fair to stop landlords from selling their houses, surely if they own a house they have the right to sell it and also to give it to a family member if a family member becomes of age and wants a house to live in. Once they are given the proper notice on that. But then I see the side of it that is very hurtful and it has happened when tenants who are told to quit maybe after a number of years and they are not even on the housing list. You know, they did not think of doing that. And we have a housing list in Killarney, it takes ten or twelve years to get a council house and rents are very expensive. But I feel that the government must do something in this area as well because most landlords are paying tax at the rate of 51%. Surely the government could see their way when rents are gone up and when their take is more, why don't they see fit in reducing the amount of tax and spread it between the tenant and the landlord. I think that would be better business. I mean the government will say nothing, they are taking 51% tax and the cost of rents are outrageous. So the tenant purchase scheme then, I have been on about this for a long time Minister, in relation to people, there was a complete stoppage of buying out houses, buying council houses from around 2011 to 2017. And a number of people became pension age and they are not allowed to purchase their house after maybe renting it and putting money into it for 37 or 40 years. I know a family that's very hot by this and there are many of them. And also a council house built since 2015. And I hear the government, they had tarnished it yesterday saying that they supported the idea of everyone or as many people as possible all in their own home. But local authorities are denied from selling a house to tenants that's built after 2015. Any house that was built by the local authority after 2015 can't be purchased by the tenant. So when you sign up the new housing bill, Minister O'Brien's bill, when you examine it closely, it looks like a lot is depending on the private sector of building houses, whether it is developers, whether it is small builders. And it's impossible for many of them to build now like they used to because of the VAT rates and the taxes that have to be paid in that and the levies and the rules and regulations. It is affecting small builders are being affected where they can't get stage payments anymore. They must carry the whole cost of the building of the house till the house is completely finished and till the key is being turned on the door. That's very hard on some builders, Minister. And it's putting small builders out of business. Why not give the money to the local authorities to build rural cottages where the applicant is giving a site himself? The other thing that Kerry County Council is telling me, where a small farmer, a woman or a man, where their house fell into disrepair, there used to be a system where they would take out a demountable home. And it was sited by the likes of the late Gerry Collins and his team. And in a couple of days there was a demountable home sited and these people were no longer in the house where there is no room for what is leaking or where things have gone very, very bad. And where there is vermin and different things. And they are saying they have no money for that system, Minister. I'm asking you to talk to Kerry County Council about this because it's a very serious issue that a demountable home can be taken out to this kind of a person who will not leave the land and the place they were born in. The council at present time may allocate them a house in the local village or somewhere, but they will never go out of the place that they were born and where. Minister, I'm asking you to look at this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
