Housing

A house divided: politicians and officials split over tax breaks for landlords

The Minister for Housing say tax cuts for owners of rental properties are necessary to keep them in the market, but he faces opposition

Darragh O’Brien: ‘We’ve given a commitment to do something on the landlord side and we’ve got to work through the detail of that, but government will work on this as a whole’. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Darragh O’Brien was in an ebullient mood at the launch of 20 new social homes on the site of a former tyre depot last week.

The Minister for Housing made his launch speech in the sleek modern kitchen of one of the new Focus Ireland homes on Connaught Street in Phibsboro, with its founder, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, sitting in a chair beside him.

“I'm pleased to tell you that right across Dublin, right across Leinster, ...