Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The previous speaker said that Sinn Féin should bring forward legislation. I remind the House that the Fianna Fáil Party has voted down every single piece of legislation that my party colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, has brought forward.

The rental situation in this State is going from bad to worse. It is hard to imagine that it could get any worse given the astronomical rents people have been paying for many years now. Five years on from the launch of the Rebuilding Ireland plan, outside of Dublin rents are up 5.4%. There are 4,989 households on the waiting list for social housing in County Louth when the housing system payment, HAP, lists are included. That is almost 5,000 families, which is a record number. The average cost of a three-bedroom rental house in Louth is €1,214. In Meath, it ranges from €1,293 to €1,800 but in reality it is much more expensive in many cases. There are fewer properties than ever to rent in Louth and Meath and there is no affordable housing to speak of, as we all know. Government inaction is compounding the problem year-on-year.

A few days ago, it emerged that Round Hill Capital and SFO Capital Partners are to buy 130 of 170 houses in a development in Maynooth, County Kildare. The same investment company was involved in the acquisition of a new 112 housing development in Dublin 15. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, said he does not approve of this. It is as though it has nothing to do with him. His party colleagues were engaged in this sort of talk at the weekend, calling for something to be done as though the party did not hold the housing portfolio and had not propped up the previous Government. Fianna Fáil in government and its partners Fine Gael and the Green Party not only approve of this but actively incentivise it. These investment companies do not pay capital gains tax, corporation tax or tax on their rent roll. These tax exemptions have to go. It is criminal that these foreign investment companies get tax breaks and incentives when an entire generation of young people have been locked out of home ownership. We need a three-year ban on rent increases, to introduce Sinn Fein’s plan for a refundable tax credit to put a month’s rent back in everybody’s pocket, we need to give young people a chance to have some security in their lives and to own their own homes and to stop destroying their futures just so the Government can line the pockets of foreign investment companies. For crying out loud, I call on the Minister to stop this madness.

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