Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Le beagnach seachtain anuas tá deireadh tragóideach agus cuibhdhe tagtha le polasaí páirtí an Tánaiste agus polasaí an Rialtais. Tá mórchuid na tithe in eastáit chónaithe sa Stát ceannaithe ag ciste infheistíochta idirnáisiúnta. Le beannacht an Rialtais seo, ní íocann na cistí seo cáin ar bith ar an proifid a dhéanann siad. Le beannacht an Rialtais seo, tá siad ag glasáil teaghlaigh agus oibrithe amach as úinéireacht tithe.

At weekend, Round Hill Capital, an international investment fund, bought up most of a newly-built estate, Mullen Park, County Kildare. After years of working and saving, first-time buyers who had managed to save a deposit were told last week that 135 of these family homes were no longer for sale and had been sold to an international investment fund. Yesterday it was reported the same fund had bought an entire Dublin estate, Bay Meadows, of newly-built family homes and it will now rent these homes at a staggering €1,975 per month. The response of the Tánaiste's Government over the past few days would suggest that this is something new, something that has fallen out of the sky. This has been happening for years, and well the Tánaiste knows it. It happened in Dundrum and in Leopardstown, where a single fund bought 295 properties. It happened in Lucan last year, where Cairn Homes, one of the biggest developers in the State, sold 229 properties to a single investment fund and it has happened in many other areas.

Not only have the Tánaiste and his party's policies facilitated this, they have actually encouraged it and incentivised it through the taxation structure these funds enjoy. They pay no corporation tax, no capital gains tax when they sell the properties and little stamp duty. They pay no tax on the sky-high rental income they charge people in this city and beyond. The Tánaiste's party gave these funds the tax advantage, it designed it with the support of Fianna Fáil. They have created this situation where these international investment funds are snapping up family homes and locking first-time buyers out of the market. That is the reality. These parties have frustrated the hopes, dreams and aspirations of many workers and families who aspire to own their own homes.

I have been raising the issue of the tax advantages and exemptions enjoyed by these funds year after year. As late as last year, I submitted amendments to the Finance Bill so the Government would examine how these tax breaks are impacting on first-time buyers and how they are pushing up house prices. However, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Party Deputies all walked in to that committee and voted against even looking at this issue. Every one of them opposed looking at this area and voted to keep the status quoand to ensure these funds enjoyed the tax exemptions they have been able to utilise to lock and push first-time buyers out of the market. Now that the horse has bolted, the Government is scrambling to contain the damage it has caused. In its end of year results in February, Glenveagh Properties, one of the biggest developers in the State, stated its strategy is to sell 43% of properties to these types of funds, and this is growing and gathering pace. The reports this morning of the squabbles in Government parliamentary parties, of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil taking swipes at each other, finger-pointing and blaming each other, are simply not good enough. Both parties are to blame but they must now grow up, take responsibility for their actions and undo the damage they have caused. Will the Tánaiste do what Sinn Féin has argued for over the years and take away the tax breaks and advantages Fine Gael gave to these funds so first-time buyers have a chance in the housing market? What actions will the Government take after the horse has bolted to end the block purchasing of family homes by these funds?

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