Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State is aware, the deputy leader of Fianna Fáil raised this issue during Leaders' Questions today with the Tánaiste following reports in today's newspapers that a further 295 houses in Leopardstown will be sold directly to an institutional investor. What this does is reinforce how Fine Gael favours financial institutions and big corporations over ordinary citizens. The Tánaiste's answer earlier today was really disappointing. It reminds me of what the previous Government did when it welcomed the vulture funds to this country. They were welcomed and enabled to purchase non-performing loans at knock-down rates thus enabling them to make huge profits on the back of ordinary citizens. A total of 2,923 houses were sold to these institutional investors. We are forcing young people out of the market. It is not just us on this side of the House who are saying this. The Minister of State will be aware that the UN rapporteur wrote a very strong letter to the Government condemning its policies saying that we are institutionalising home ownership.

The preferential tax laws constitute a significant incentive for these people to come in and purchase blocks of apartments and large housing developments. The tax laws that are applicable to these institutional investors are completely different to those that are applicable to small landlords with two or three properties that were probably bought as a pension fund. Typically, self-employed people buy a number of properties to use as a pension fund. They do not get the big write downs that these institutional investors get.

We also have a problem with the State itself buying wholesale instead of building local authority houses again forcing young couples out of the market. Young couples are being priced out of the market and are not getting the support they need to purchase their first home. The other night, I was out with Mary Fitzpatrick, who is running in the local elections. Planning permission is being sought for a large block of apartments on Botanic Road. People living in three different houses I visited told me that they would not mind if this development went ahead if it could be guaranteed that they could buy one of the apartments. These are elderly people living in large four-bedroom houses who want to downsize to open up opportunities to bring those type of houses back into the market but they are afraid they will be unable to do so. Unless the Government changes the regulations, they will be unable to do so.

It is really something that is hitting a nerve with the general public. It is not just people in the affected areas in large urban settings. Even when I travel around my constituency with local election candidates, people who will not be affected ask me how the State can do what it is doing. They ask how the State prioritises international funds over our own citizens and prevents them from getting on the property ladder and purchasing their first house. Change is needed. I know the Minister of State understands the challenges facing young couples. I ask him to tell me in his reply that the Government has listened to what has been said on this side of the House and that change is imminent.

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