Politicians who are Landlords

Vote them out then.

Which business sectors are they not allowed to be in.

So in a health crisis, the minister for health should not be in a position to push for legislation to alleviate the crisis, even if the policy doesn't work,in case they or their family benefit?

Utter nonsense.

It would be reasonable to ask the Taoiseach ( and incoming Taoiseach) not to appoint any landlord to cabinet while this housing crisis continues.

It is impossible for anyone, including landlords, to act against their own interests in government. It is clear that this housing crisis has continued this long because every reasonable suggestion to help solve it has been resisted by this and the previous government.

SO, no problem being a TD and landlord but no input into government decisions around housing

I dont have a problem with one having a couple of properties, but 11 is ridiculous.

How many properties did he register and how many did he not register.

Where will you get properties from where you can't evict people and there is no income coming in from them, but you still have to pay all the costs, fees expenses and repairs. Why not just buy a place and leave it empty and not have all the hassle and expense.

The problem tenants have is supply. So I'm asking where will this supply come from.

They're being paid handsomely to do a job.

If I set up a business that diminished my ability to perform my current duties my boss would have none of it.

I don't think law makers should have any conflicts of interest. If they're a housing Minister they shouldn't be a landlord. If they're the education minister they shouldn't be a teacher etc

Knowing the business as an insider is not a requirement to be a minister. They need to be open minded and have good analytical and critical thinking skills and be prepared to do the work of reading up on their brief and meeting with all the stakeholders.

Being one of the stakeholders themselves will inevitably bias their position. Not always that they'd purposely act to enrich themselves, but in a more heuristic way

No. During a housing crisis of unprecedented extent, no landlord should be in government because all members of government take collective responsibility for decisions. They should not be appointed to government while this crisis remains.

?? where did i say that?

The RTB online system is a mess and they don't send out reminders when registration is due.

This leads to landlords inadvertently missing registration dates.

If they ran it like the motor tax system where you just go online with a unique pin and pay in a simple transaction compliance could be improved.

Just a thought but maybe part of the reason politicians are over represented in the landlord business is that it is the sort of business you can be in while attending to your political role.

You just invest the capital and hand over the day to day management to an agent.

What about if they are a property owner?

What if they are a renter?

Each of those circumstances could be viewed as a conflict of interest.

Politicians are people too, unless we want them to live in a cave and exist on soup and water.

Some may be quite successful before they enter politics, and some be living in a council house.

It doesn't matter if they are a renter, a landlord or whatever so long as it's all declared and above board.

Owning your own property or renting a property are common experiences in our society. Most people will have been renters at least at some point in their life, and the majority of the population (up to now) have been property owners at some point in their life.

Home ownership rates are consistently (well above) 60% across the general population.

What percentage of the Irish population are landlords?

Well 1 in 4 of our legislators are landlords, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/register-of-members-interests/ but out of the general population, I'd put it below 5% (Can't find a statistic on this)

Conflicts of interest are not all equal. If you are representing your constituents, then having interests that align with your constituents makes you a better representative. If your interests are opposed to your constituents, then that's a conflict of interest.

Its only a conflict of interest if your interests conflict with the interests of those you are representing

You do understand landlords are people? If you are a TD in the Dail you represent landlords as much as any other form of house holder including the homeless

If TDs are favouring landlords like you suggest, they are doing a very bad job as landlords increasingly get out of the market. The only people this favours is anyone in a position to buy/first time buyers. For anyone renting and not in a position to buy the government policies and general public attitude itself towards landlords is an absolute disaster( which this thread is an example of). All its done is reduce the supply of rental accommodation.