Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleagues, Deputies Ó Broin and Doherty, on all of their continuous work on this issue. I would like to talk about the impact of investment firms buying up large swathes of housing in Ireland from the perspective of young people, and in particular those in their 20s. It is a group that sometimes gets forgotten about, not just in housing but in an awful lot of things in this country.

The ESRI’s Poverty, Income Inequality and Living Standards in Ireland report, parts of which were published today, points to a significant share of young people facing excessive housing costs in comparison to their incomes. That will not come as a surprise to any of us. It examines the unique set of circumstances facing young people who are, in the main, engaged in insecure employment and who have been forced by successive failure in housing policy by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments into a rental market with significant and acute affordability issues. I know housing affordability and availability is an issue that affects all age groups but for young people, the prospect of home ownership has collapsed in recent decades. The findings paint a stark picture of housing affordability for young people in Ireland in 2021.

The consequences of declining rates of home ownership for young people over several generations mean that these same young people are forced into the private rental market, where affordability has been aggravated by eye-wateringly high rents. Outside of the capital and in rural areas like my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, the private rental market has become increasingly unaffordable for many young people. That is if one can find a property to rent. It is nearly impossible to find a property to rent and it is impossible to afford it as they are in the region of €1,200 to €1,500 per month for Kilkenny and Carlow. One can forget about it if one is trying to find a place that will take the housing assistance payment, HAP, as one has no chance.

The Minister might not like it and he can have a go at us all he wants but everybody on the street knows the reality and the consequences of allowing investment firms to buy up huge swathes of homes in newly-built housing estates throughout the country. This is what has resulted and this is what we will continue to see unless it is stopped.

See this speech in context