Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When Fianna Fáil took over the housing brief, the Minister made it clear from the start that he was happy to continue with the failed policies introduced by Fine Gael which, as we know, caused the housing crisis and failed to solve the housing crisis. To see Fianna Fáil introducing failed British Tory housing policies is a new low even for Fianna Fáil. This motion outlines a long list of evidence showing that shared equity schemes increase the cost of and demand for housing, and lead to the development of housing in the wrong areas. We have seen evidence from the British model. The Minister and his colleague might like to say that it is just Sinn Féin that is opposed to this policy. The ESRI, the Central Bank, the former Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, journalists and everybody else is opposed to it. Even Fine Gael sees that this is a bad scheme but it is Fianna Fáil reverting to type.

Developers are still drawing up Fianna Fáil housing policies. It is developers who want shared equity schemes, because they increase property prices at the expense of people desperate to own their own home in a hopelessly dysfunctional housing market. Lobbyists for developers wrote this policy and the Minister grabbed it and ran with it. Has Fianna Fáil learned nothing from its time in government, when it bankrupted this State, destroyed the economy and caused misery and financial ruin for thousands of Irish people? This scheme risks increasing house prices. That is the opposite of what we need and it will burden working people with unsustainable debt if the value of their property increases. If values fall, it will expose the taxpayer to significant liabilities. I ask the Minister to stop going with developer policies, to put people first and to do the right thing by scrapping this scheme.

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