Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The public's response and anger in recent days when people learned that global investment funds were swooping in to buy blocks of houses in areas where demand clearly outstrips supply is fully understandable. Lost in the justified furore was a good initiative by the Government to place the cost-rental model on a legislative footing for the first time. The Vienna cost-rental bases rent on how much it costs to build. It is core Green Party policy. Rent can be 40% cheaper. This year, we are rolling out 440 units. I warmly and unreservedly welcome that initiative in a week which was depressing for first-time buyers. In Maynooth and other places, people demonstrated a significant level of restraint. Some of them had justified grounds for objecting to planning permission applications. They put the country first in the housing crisis. They put their neighbours and their neighbours' adult children first to give them a chance to be afforded an opportunity to buy a house for the first time. They said no to NIMBYism. All bets are off and those developers will be named and shamed but I do not expect anything better. It will take central Government to regulate and ensure there is a prohibition on mass block purchases in areas in this country where demand clearly outstrips supply. I am delighted that the Government has said what it will do but people are watching and expect this to be done quickly.