Peter Whelan, the Aontú candidate for the Laytown/Bettystown are in next years local elections has told Meath Live he feels landlords need help as the numbers of them wanting to sell up is on the increase.
He said, “I am getting extremely concerned as with the amount of people contacting me regarding notices of termination they are receiving.
“Because of the vast amount of calls I was getting ,I did a bit of research into official statistics regarding this issue. The number of Notices of termination issued in the second quarter of 2023 has risen to more than 5,700. Of these , 63% of landlords gave the reason as they want to sell the properties.
“The number of homeless people in Ireland is already at an alarming high at over 12,441 as of May this year . I know we have a housing crisis and I don’t believe in knocking the government just for the sake of it . But on this issue , I do believe the government have dropped the ball .
“The rental market is vital to our housing system because of the lack of state built houses under the last few governments. The fact that large multinational companies mostly from outside this state , are given preferential tax breaks is I believe having the effect of many Irish landlords exiting the rental market . In my opinion , if our small landlords were given the same tax incentives they would most likely stay on as landlord’s.
“My big concern now is that the homeless figures will rise dramatically as a result of these landlords leaving . As it is in Meath we have over 200 homeless people according to department of housing figures. The average waiting list in Ireland for a house is 9.67 years .
“Recently I was contacted by concerned residents in Slane who just received their termination notices from the same landlord who owns a block of ten apartments in the village and they have all been issued with notices .
“I am working closely with the residents and the relevant local authorities to try to keep these families in their homes and more importantly in their community “
“I am calling on the minister for housing to intervene immediately with an incentive package that will help keep landlords in this system .
“Otherwise this government will be remembered as the government to have the highest rate of homelessness while telling us that we’re at full employment. “
