Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Increasingly, the Government and that which preceded it have turned the State into a paradise for vulture funds. Contrary to what most ordinary people think, housing units are now viewed by the State as assets for the purpose of generating capital for investors ahead of building homes for workers. This may have come as a shock to many after what we saw happen in Maynooth. However, this has been a visible reality within communities across Dublin Bay South and inner city Dublin for years now. First-time buyers in communities like Ringsend, Kevin Street, Harold's Cross, Rathmines and even Ranelagh are all too familiar with seeing the same faces at each viewing, buying up home after home for a third party on behalf of these investment funds. Dublin Bay South has traditionally not been a strong support base for Sinn Féin. However, one of the key elements as to why Sinn Féin did so well there in the general election was down to the then Government's failure on housing. We had canvassers from Ranelagh and Rathmines. We got votes in those areas because people were fed up with the Government's housing policy. Anyone who thinks that a Fine Gael success in the forthcoming by-election in the constituency is going to be a slam dunk is going to be in for a surprise. The issue of housing has not gone away.

Those who were shocked at what happened in Maynooth were silent when the same thing was effectively happening in the inner city, with working-class families being pushed out right across the Docklands. In communities in that area, families had to watch their sons and daughters being pushed far outside those communities and having to live from them and their friends on foot of the actions of vulture funds and the big tech companies that rip communities apart. Once again, we see profit margins being allowed to reign supreme over local communities. As is often the case, these crises only seem to trigger outrage in the media when the issue transcends traditional class lines. Housing needs to be seen as a building block for communities not an asset from which to make financial profits.

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