asked the Taoiseach whether he will consider setting up a committee to report on the prices now being charged for houses particularly in the Dublin area with special reference to: (1) the necessity for eliminating black market activities and the charging of exorbitant prices for houses; (2) the necessity of fixing a maximum selling price (possibly based on a multiple of the poor law valuation); (3) the necessity for fixing maximum rents for furnished or unfurnished lettings; (4) the advisability of allowing landlords to increase existing rents to maximum rents; (5) the advisability of reducing the recently imposed stamp duty on property in the case of Irish nationals and of increasing it for non-nationals; and (6) the advisability of inquiring into any other factors concerned with the purchase and letting of house property, so that an equitable solution of the problem may be found.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - House Prices.
While I appreciate the seriousness of the problems in connection with the high selling prices of house property and of the exorbitant rents being charged in certain lettings of furnished and unfurnished houses, I do not think that a solution of these problems can be assisted by the setting up of a committee such as is suggested by the Deputy.
The Government are fully alive to the urgency of finding effective measures to secure an abatement of the sale price of houses and hope that such measures will be found in conjunction with the steps which are being taken to meet the acute housing shortage.
The advance in such price is due to the scarcity of accommodation combined with increased purchasing power in the hands of some sections of the community. The market in house property at present is a seller's market and not a black market. Accordingly, the reference in the question to the elimination of black-market activities is inappropriate, since the existence of a black market postulates a legitimate market with which it can be contrasted. A system of price control might well lead to such a black market, as, under any such system, evasions would be bound to occur.
With regard to lettings: rents, in the case of practically every house built before the year 1941, are now controlled under the Rent Restrictions Act, 1946.
The question of rent control in the case of furnished lettings is at present under examination by the Department of Justice.
The Deputy may be assured that all problems in connection with housing and the letting of houses will receive the closest attention of the Government.