Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are all aware that there are serious problems not just with the lack of supply of social housing, but also in the supply of private housing, how the construction industry operates and how developers operate through land banking. For all practical purposes, this sector has gone unregulated. I am not saying it started with this Government but it has been unregulated for years. It makes more sense if the Government started to regulate this area properly. House prices in Dublin have gone up by 16% over the past year, with rents going up by 11%, but wages have not. There is no control of this sector.

The Minister may have noted that large blocks of private sector houses and apartments have gone for sale over the past two years by investors. Up to 500 housing units in Tallaght, built by Liam Carroll, will soon be sold for €50,000 each. If they were sold individually to members of the public, they would be paying a minimum of €160,000 for a unit. I accept the Minister cannot make social housing out of all of them. While it might not come under the Minister’s remit, does he consider it a good idea for the State to buy between 20% and 30% of these units and selling the others to individuals looking for houses rather than allowing investors, usually from foreign lands, to buy the whole block for a fraction of what they are worth?

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