Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is hell-bent on introducing a shared equity scheme that will only push up house prices. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, knows, as we all do, that a whole generation is locked out of home ownership because of the prices that are being charged for houses. It is not just Sinn Féin that is saying the scheme will push up house prices. The most senior official in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is saying the property industry is lobbying for this because it will push up house prices and line the pockets of developers. It is the developers who lobbied for this scheme. The reason we know that is that they lobbied Sinn Féin as well. We told them to sling their hook because we knew it would lock in high prices. However, they went over to Government Buildings and got a friendly ear in the form of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. It is not just Sinn Féin and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, but the Central Bank and the ESRI are all singing the same tune, that this policy is reckless and will push up house prices and it should not happen.

The Minister, Deputy Ryan, as leader of the Green Party, was very clear. He committed to pushing back on inflationary demand-side interventions in the home purchase market. The Green Party states in its policy document that these are essentially social transfers from taxpayers to developers and builders which are paid through increased house prices. How can the Minister reconcile that the Green Party is rolling over and allowing this Minister to introduce a policy that everybody knows is going to increase house prices?

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